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Nazi Memorabilia Found In Home Of Florida Man Who Allegedly Tried To Blow Up Miami Building
"I didn’t think he would take it this far. He said he doesn’t like Jews. He’s a Nazi,” said friend Luis Diaz about Walter Stolper, who's accused of attempting to blow up a Miami building.
Police have discovered a collection of Nazi memorabilia at the home of a Florida man who allegedly attempted to blow up a Miami apartment complex with jugs of gasoline.
Surveillance video released by prosecutors in September shows Walter Stolper, 72, wheeling canisters of petrol into his Miami apartment. Police say they stopped Stolper shortly after he had poured several gallons of the flammable liquid into the building's garbage chute this past July. In total, 28 containers of gasoline, sulfur powder, and potassium nitrate were found inside his unit amongst a trove of World War II artifacts.
The ghastly collectibles will now be used as evidence against Stolper in court, CBS Miami reports.
Ernesto Rodriguez with Miami Beach police emphasized how close they were to disaster.
“Already in the building he had disposed of eight additional gas canisters down the trash chute from the 15th floor,” Rodriguez said, according to CBS Miami. “We were minutes away from a potentially deadly situation.”
Stolper, who was in the process of being evicted, allegedly said he was going to “burn down the building with all of the [expletive] Jews.”
Luis Diaz, a friend of the suspect who had notified police of the strange behavior, explained Stolper's motives.
“He was going to burn the building down with a bunch of Jews in it ... I didn’t think he would take it this far. He said he doesn’t like Jews. He’s a Nazi,” Diaz said in July, according to WSVN, a Miami, Florida-based news organization.
Rodriguez noted the bizarre objects found inside Stolper's home.
“Inside of the unit we found Nazi reading material as well as a swastika,” said Rodriguez, CBS Miami reports. “He is a very, very, very dangerous individual and our detectives also seized two firearms.”
Along with the gruesome keepsakes described by Rodriguez, police also found a mug depicting Adolf Hitler wearing a Santa hat, a mug depicting a girl being held by a Nazi, a Nazi calendar, a printed oath to a Nazi leader, a large knife with a Nazi insignia, and Nazi flags, according to The Miami Herald.
Stolper's lawyers say he has been diagnosed with early onset dementia. He has so far been found competent to stand trial, The Miami Herald reports.
A bond hearing for Stolper is scheduled for February 7. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office will ask a judge to keep Stolper confined ahead of his trial. He faces charges of attempted murder, attempted arson, and possession of a destructive device. A hate crime enhancement has been added to the charges, meaning he may be hit with a harsher sentence if found guilty. He potentially faces life in prison.
[Photo: Miami-Dade County Corrections]
