A Kentucky man was arrested earlier this week for threatening to attack a Planned Parenthood in Cincinnati with a homemade “destructive device,” the latest crime in what’s been a record-high year of violence against abortion clinics.
Daniel Kibler, 28, was arrested on Sunday afternoon when a SWAT team found a homemade “destructive device” located in an “open-top container” in his home that he shared with his wife and seven children, according to a police report obtained by CBS News on Wednesday. According to that report, Kibler had said his intent was to “throw something at a building to cause a fire.”
A spokesperson for the Kenton County Police Department told CBS News that Kibler was targeting a Cincinnati Planned Parenthood less than 15 miles away from his home.
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Kibler was arrested on eight counts of wanton endangerment, one count of possession of a destructive device, and one count of terroristic threatening, according to the report. He’s being held at the Kenton County Detention Center on an $800,000 bond.
The bomb threat comes at a time when crimes against abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, have hit an all-time high. In the span of less than a week in August, three young men were arrested for threatening mass shootings against Planned Parenthood facilities. At the home of one of the suspects, authorities seized 15 rifles, 10 semi-automatic pistols, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition during a raid.
In 2017, violent acts against abortion providers more than doubled from the year prior, according to data compiled by the National Abortion Federation. The group recorded 1,081 violent acts, the most since the group began tracking these incidents.
Last year, the group recorded another record high: 1,369 reported violent acts, including 15 instances of assault and battery, 13 burglaries, 14 counts of stalking and over a thousand episodes of illegal trespassing.
This year, as states have passed an unprecedented number of laws restricting abortion, providers say the problem has gotten even worse.
“We’re seeing a dramatic increase in violence and disruption against clinics,” the Very Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, an Episcopal priest and interim president and chief executive officer of NAF, said in an exclusive interview with CBS News.
A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio did not immediately return a voicemail and email requesting comment.
