May 29, 2007 11:00 am US/Eastern
Fort Dix Tipster Doesn't Feel Like A Hero
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (CBS) ―
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William Thomas Cain/Getty Images
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Sketch of the six Fort Dix terror plot suspects.
CBS
A Circuit City clerk credited with making the tip that brought down an alleged plot to kill soldiers said Tuesday, in his first media interview, that it took a day of pondering before he made the tip.
Speaking on CNN's "American Morning," Brian Morganstern described how two men brought him a videotape to transfer to DVD in late January 2006.
He said he went home that night and told his family what he had seen: Ten men at a firing range with handguns, rifles and what he thought were fully automatic rifles. Authorities later said they were chanting in Arabic, "Allah Akbar," or "God is Great."
He did not know if he should breach the privacy of the customers, who seemed like ordinary guys. He wasn't even paying full attention to the video until he saw things that were troubling.
"It was more of a moral dilemma at that point," Morganstern told CNN on Tuesday.
The next day, he talked to his managers at the Mount Laurel store in the electronics chain, then called police, sparking a 15-month investigation that led to the arrests on May 7 of six men accused of plotting an attack on soldiers on Fort Dix, an Army installation being used largely to train reservists who are bound for Iraq.
First, Mount Laurel police visited the Circuit City to see the video. They asked Morganstern to make a copy, which was passed on to state Homeland Security investigators, then the FBI.
In about a month, an FBI informant had infiltrated the alleged plotters.
Authorities said they made the arrests just as the suspects were trying to buy fully automatic weapons in a buy facilitated an FBI informant.
The suspects are all foreign-born men in their 20s who had spent many years living in Philadelphia's southern New Jersey suburbs. Five of them are charged with conspiring to kill military personnel and could face life in prison. The sixth faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted of weapons charges.
After the arrests were made three weeks ago, authorities praised the electronics clerk who had given them the initial tip. But, citing safety concerns and the integrity of the investigation, neither they nor store officials would reveal the identity of the employee.
A Circuit City spokeswoman, Jackie Foreman, confirmed Tuesday that Morganstern was the tipster. Law enforcement authorities did not immediately return telephone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Later, Circuit City said there were actually two employees who made the tip. The other one has not been named publicly, nor have officials detailed what role the other employee played.
When Morganstern spoke to CNN, he said that the U.S. Attorney's Office had asked him not to divulge certain details of from the video.
The clerk, who remained anonymous until his interview Tuesday, was celebrated as a hero by officials and in the media across the country. He even received a proclamation of thanks from the Mount Laurel Police Department.
But that's not how Morganstern sees his action:
"I don't feel like a hero," he said. "I feel like I did the right thing. I feel like I did the right thing, but I think the real heroes are the men and women overseas and the people in our law enforcement who handled the situation."
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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