WASHINGTON — The Memphis-area former police officer arrested Sunday near the White House with a cache of weapons after claiming to have an appointment with top administration officials was ordered held until Thursday when he’ll appear before a judge for a preliminary hearing.
Timothy Bates, 37, of Collierville, Tennessee, made a brief appearance Monday afternoon in the D.C. Superior Court after he was charged with a felony offense of illegally carrying a rifle.
Bates is a retired police officer who was involuntarily committed twice this year for mental health reasons, according to court documents filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C.
Bates was arrested Sunday morning shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday after uniformed Secret Service officers observed him appearing to relieve himself outside the Renwick Gallery at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street, near the White House.
Bates told officers and agents he was headed to the White House, and wanted to meet with National Security Agency Director Admiral Mike Rogers and Defense Secretary James Mattis “for advice on missing paychecks and how to get the dog chip out of my head,” according to the incident report.
Police said Bates told the Secret Service he had weapons in his vehicle — a 2009 silver Nissan with Fraternal Order of Police tags — and he consented to a search.
Police located a total of nine firearms, including a Bushmaster assault rifle, a Tec-9 pistol with a silencer, a Vulcan machine gun and an AK-47, according to court documents. In addition, police said Bates had brass knuckles, a black jack and three knives in his car.
At the scene, Bates told authorities that he is in the “MK Ultra” project purportedly managed by the CIA and had chips implanted in his head that caused headaches, shaking and convulsions according to charging documents.
The charging documents said Bates was medically retired from his police officer job in 2013 and was involuntarily committed for mental health reasons in Tennessee in February 2017. The documents also cited a second incident in July 2017 when Bates was observed behaving erratically by law enforcement.
Johnny Crumby, president of the Tennessee State Lodge of the Fraternal Order Of Police, told WTOP earlier Bates joined the FOP in 2011, as a member of Lodge 35. When contacted by WTOP, a spokesperson for Lodge 35 said “no comment.”
NBC Washington reported Bates left the Memphis Police Department in 2013 after 13 years on the force.
After he was arrested Sunday, Bates was taken to a D.C. facility “for mental observation.”
