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Heavily armed suspect had map to judge's home

Vic Ryckaert
IndyStar
Christopher Byrne, 29

When Greenwood police busted Christopher Byrne with bomb-making materials, a rifle and a homemade silencer, they thought he might have been targeting the Greenwood Park Mall.

Byrne, 31, was in the mall parking lot when an officer stopped him, but new evidence released in court this week shows he had home addresses for law enforcement officers and a judge.

According to court records filed Monday, authorities unlocked Byrne's cellphone and discovered "the defendant had obtained the home address of the presiding judge in this case, via Google maps, just a few days before his arrest."

The same day the information came to light, Johnson Superior Judge Cynthia Emkes recused herself and ordered that the Indiana Supreme Court assign a special judge to preside over Byrne's sentencing hearing.

Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper said a search of Byrne's electronics also showed he found home addresses of a deputy prosecutor and a Greenwood police officer.

There is no evidence of a direct threat, Cooper said, and possessing the addresses is not enough to warrant more serious charges of intimidating the judge or law enforcement officers.

"Can you make that inference?" Cooper said. "I believe the judge made that inference and that's why she recused herself."

Byrne was arrested in August after Greenwood Police Department Officer Eric McElhaney saw him driving through the parking lot at the mall. Police were watching the lot after a spree of car break-ins.

McElhaney saw Byrne commit an unspecified traffic violation and stopped him.

Byrne refused to give the officer his identification and said he was a "sovereign national."

Police arrested him for being a habitual traffic violator. In his car, officers found a Ruger 10-22 rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition, a scope, homemade silencer.

Officers also found chemicals that can be combined to make a bleach bomb along with instructions, Cooper said.

At the time, Byrne had been awaiting trial felony gun and habitual traffic offender charges stemming from a February 2015 arrest. He's since pleaded guilty to those charges and faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison. A new judge will be assigned to hear the sentencing.

Byrne also was convicted of theft in Marion County in August 2015 after officers searched his apartment and found stolen police equipment, including an AR-15 rifle stolen from the car of Greenwood officer Michelle Richardson in October 2014. Richardson's marked police car was set on fire after the theft.

In Johnson County, Byrne faces another habitual traffic offender charge in connection with the arrest at the mall. Cooper said he did not press a weapons case because he hopes U.S Attorney Josh J. Minkler's office will file federal charges.

Tim Horty, Minkler's spokesman, said he can't comment on any open investigation.

IndyStar reporter Holly Hays contributed to this story.

Call IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @vicryc.

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