Delmart Vreeland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (September 2007)

Delmart Vreeland's note detailing several possible targets. This note was already in an evidence locker on the morning of September 11, 2001; but not opened until September 14, 2001.

Delmart "Mike" Vreeland (born March 20, 1966), near Grosse Pointe, Michigan, is known for his highly controversial claim of discovering the September 11, 2001 attacks and notifying authorities. ^[1]

Vreeland claimed to be a specialist in Russian intelligence for the Office of Naval Intelligence was arrested in Toronto on December 6, 2000 for credit card fraud, a charge later dismissed after it came to light that the credit card involved was his own.^{[citation needed]}

While in jail, he claims that on several occasions he attempted to warn the Canadian government, through his jailers, of an impending attack on the United States, including specifics about the World Trade Center and Osama bin Laden. He also claims that after several months he had two pens smuggled in which used different ink than allowed in jail, and he wrote out his warning note on either August 11, or August 12, 2001. The Canadian government has since admitted that the pens used in the creation of this note, as well as the paper it was written on, were confiscated before the attacks, but was not opened until September 14, 2001 two days after the attacks. ^[2]

Among the targets detailed in the letter were the Sears Tower, the World Trade Center the White House and The Pentagon followed by the phrase "Let one happen. Stop the rest!!!" The U.S. government claims that Vreeland was a criminal and had been discharged from the Navy in 1986 after a few months of substandard performance, but when forced to submit his performance records in Vreeland's subsequent extradition hearings, they provided a 1,200 page document, heavily altered and redacted, with dates of his Navy physical testing as recent as 1998.

During the trial, Vreeland also called the Pentagon switchboard from the stand which confirmed his rank of Lieutenant, confirmed his office number, and put him in contact with his own voice-mail, despite his ostensible lack of employ in the United States Defense Forces.

Vreeland was later accused of being a con artist and was arrested in the U.S. in 2004. According to an article by Mike Martindale in the November 4, 2004 Detroit News, "Police have been chasing him for years. Vreeland, now 38, has been arrested 29 times since 1984 and was on the Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard's Most Wanted list for more than four years....Vreeland, who has often conned police into releasing him in the past, tried to pass himself off as an international U.S. spy who has smuggled documents out of Moscow for the Navy and CIA."^{[citation needed]}

At trial, Vreeland was represented by noted defence attorney Rocco Galati.^[3]