Jury Mulls Bomb Threat Case

The fate of a Warsaw man accused of false informing in regard to an alleged bomb threat is in the hands of the jury today in Kosciusko Circuit Court.

Keith Aaron Waites, 30, testified Tuesday that he didn't make any comments about putting plastic explosives in soda machines at Biomet, where employees were evacuated during the second shift on May 1.

Rather, Waites contends that a co-worker at Medtronic Sofamor Danek, where Waites was working as a temporary employee, brought up the explosives comment after a breakroom discussion about Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. Also, several employees questioned Waites as to why he was no longer working at Biomet, not knowing that Waites was working as a temporary employee while taking vacation time from Biomet. Dual employment is against Biomet policy, according to testimony, so many at Medtronic apparently assumed Waites no longer worked for Biomet.

Waites said that after Paul Berkey said something along the lines of, "What are you going to do, put plastic explosives in the pop machines?" That he simply responded, "Whatever," before leaving Medtronic for lunch.

That exchange reportedly took place April 24 - one week prior to the alleged threat and Waites being taken into custody, the day that Waites was terminated from Biomet because of the violation of the dual employment stipulation in his employee handbook.

Waites did admit he flippantly told another Medtronic co-worker that he was fired from Biomet because "they caught me with explosive in my backpack." Waites said he was tired of people asking him about his Biomet job and of people he told he was on vacation from Biomet not believing him. One of those people, co-worker Chris Kelley said when he asked Waites about why he wasn't at Biomet, Waites said, "They weren't too happy about the plastic explosives in the bathroom."

Waites also contends that one man at Medtronic was looking for a way to get him into trouble because of previous bad blood between the two. Bob Aldridge, however, testified that he didn't think either had a problem with the other and said that reporting the overheard conversation about plastic explosives to his superiors was not intended as a way "to get back at" Waites.

Information provided by Aldridge led Medtronic authorities to Berkey and other employees, who told company officials that Waites talked about plastic explosives on more than one occasion. Berkey testified that he didn't report Waites' comments April 24 because he didn't think it was a real threat. But when Berkey learned that Waites still worked Biomet and when Berkey was questioned about Waites' statements, Berkey believed the alleged threats could be serious and told officials what he had heard. He said he "became weirded out" because police involvement made Waites' statements take on new meaning to him.

Defense attorney Kurt Grimm said Waites is "an ordinary, decent sort of chap" with no previous police contact and that his client was pressured into signing a confession that was not correct.

Waites testified that he was not properly read his Miranda rights and that he was denied a lawyer despite asking for one at the start of his questioning by then-Detective Sgt. Sam Whitaker. Whitaker, who previously testified that Waites was read and given a copy of his rights, is now director of the Kosciusko County Work Release Center.

Waites said the typed confession presented in court is "almost exactly as it is now, but there was a little less" and that a prior draft was torn up before a printer malfunctioned.

Whitaker told the jury that Waites initialed the page where the statement began and ended and that no changes were made after Waites signed the paper. Waites testified that he only signed the confession because he felt pressured, had to go to the bathroom and wanted to go home.

Both the state and defense concluded their cases Tuesday, with closing arguments this morning before the matter was turned over to the jury.