CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Court records accuse a former Canadian soldier of planning to attack Calgary’s Veterans Affairs office over a dispute about the coverage of costs for his health issues.
The 45-year-old former military intelligence officer pleaded guilty to weapons charges in a Calgary court this week. His name was not released due to a publication ban.
Court documents say he was in the military from 2008 until he went on disability in 2011. He had a dispute with Veterans Affairs over covering treatment costs for ailments including multiple sclerosis, which he blamed on a flu vaccine he received while in the military.
When officers arrested him in January, they found firearms, body armor, possible bomb-making materials, schematics of the skyscraper that houses Veterans Affairs and a plan to attack the seventh-floor offices.
“Recovered off the accused’s laptop was a written plan that contained notes made regarding the reconnaissance of the Bantrel Tower and a plan relating to what the (prosecution) submits was a plan to attack the office of Veterans Affairs,” the court documents say.
The accused has pleaded guilty to several weapons possession charges.
He has yet to enter pleas on four other weapons-related charges.
Prosecutor Doug Simpson said a terrorism charge was considered but decided against it.
He remains in custody and is scheduled to be back in court Nov. 27.
The man told police he was suicidal and he will undergo a forensic psychiatric exam. Sentencing isn’t expected until sometime next year.
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