Investigator: Hemet Attack Suspect Tried To Sabotage Drug Investigation

A law enforcement official alleges that the main suspect in a string of booby trap attacks against the Hemet Police Department in Southern California was targeting an officer who had previously arrested him on a drugs charge.

Karl Anglin, the Los Angeles assistant special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said Tuesday that Nicholas Smit was trying to sabotage a criminal case against him after his arrest last year for marijuana cultivation.

Anglin says Smit believed he could derail proceedings by targeting the officer who arrested him.

Smit allegedly carried out a string of attacks, usually around the time of court hearings in the marijuana case.

Smit was arrested Friday and has not yet made a court appearance. A telephone listing for Smit can’t be located.