Man in Okla. Church Bombing Plot Found Not Guilty Due to Insanity

Had plotted to blow up dozens of churches

An Illinois man accused in a failed plot to firebomb dozens of Oklahoma churches was found not guilty by reason of insanity Friday after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed he was mentally ill.

U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan found Gregory Arthur Weiler II of Elk Grove Village, Ill., not guilty on a charge of possessing an unregistered, destructive device. Prosecutors accused Weiler of plotting to bomb 48 churches in Ottawa County, though no explosives were set off and no one was injured.

Weiler was arrested in October 2012 after a motel worker in Miami, Okla., discovered a duffel bag containing components of Molotov cocktails in a trash bin. Court documents filed Friday show that Weiler admitted placing the items in the trash.