August 26, 2008 U.S. attorney: 'No credible threat' on Obama, DNC

DENVER (AP) - Federal authorities are looking into reports that
a man arrested with rifles, ammunition and drugs in his truck may
have made threats against Barack Obama, officials said Monday.

Two other men were arrested in the case.

"It's premature to say that it was a valid threat or that these
folks have the ability to carry it out," said a U.S. government
official familiar with the investigation. The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Obama will be in Denver later this week to accept the Democratic
nomination for president.

FBI spokeswoman Kathy Wright confirmed the FBI was investigating
the reports but declined to elaborate. The Joint Information Center
- a command set up by Denver, state and federal authorities to
field media inquiries during the Democratic convention - said it
had no immediate comment.

Tharin Gartrell, 28, was arrested during a traffic stop early
Sunday by police in the eastern Denver suburb of Aurora. In his
truck, officers found two rifles, including one with a scope; a
bulletproof vest; boxes of ammunition; walkie-talkies; and
suspected narcotics, said Aurora police Detective Marcus Dudley.

Police alerted federal authorities, who soon arrested Nathan
Johnson, 32, at a hotel in Denver, Dudley said. A third man, Shawn
Robert Adolf, 33,

Adolf allegedly tried to escape officers by jumping from a
sixth-floor window. He was hospitalized and was being held on $1
million bond for several outstanding warrants involving drug
charges. Johnson also was being held on drug charges and his bond
was unknown, Dudley said.

It wasn't known if the three men had attorneys, Dudley said.

Dudley didn't say what tied the men together but that more
arrests were possible. One of the rifles was stolen, and
authorities had traced it to Kansas, Dudley said. He declined to
say to whom it belonged.

Aurora police alerted federal officials because of heightened
security surrounding the Democratic convention, Dudley said.

"Clearly we found there are federal implications - otherwise we
would not have notified them," he said. "The weapons clearly
would cause great concern."

U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said the case was under investigation.
"We're absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the
candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of
Colorado," Eid said in a statement.

Officials with the FBI, Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Aurora police set a news
conference for Tuesday afternoon.

Law enforcers in Denver are trying to find out whether the
reported threats to Obama were valid. "It could also turn out that
these were nothing but a bunch of knuckleheads, meth-heads," the
U.S. government official said.
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Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan and P. Solomon Banda
contributed to this report.