Reverend Willie Ray Lampley rose to national attention in the United States of America as a self-proclaimed prophet, the head of the Universal Church of God (Yahweh) based in Vernon, Oklahoma which was part of the Christian Identity movement.
Lampley's plans were interrupted when FBI informant Richard Schrum alerted authorities that the homemade bomb was about to be tested at Elohim City.
"[4] In February 1992, Lampley sent out a letter declaring that he and Trescott would start on a five-week tour of seven western states to give testimony to their leaders in warning "that The Great Tribulation had begun on March 26, 1991 and that it would last for 1,260 days".
[4] Lampley was deeply affected by the 1993 burning of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, keeping a framed photograph of the fire within his otherwise undecorated church which was set-up like a home office.
"[5] In April 1995, Vietnam War veteran Larry Wayne Crow of Bentonville, Arkansas left his career as a corporate pilot for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., telling his friends that he was going to become a preacher.
"[6] In June 1995, they wrote President Clinton a letter warning of an imminent foreign invasion led by United Nations' troops.
[1] In May 1995, Schrum (aged 50) "a veteran law enforcement officer with 20 years' experience, mostly with the Tulsa Police Department" volunteered to assist the government.
[1] Having returned from South Dakota, the pair tried to recruit Dennis Mahon of Tulsa, the Oklahoma organizer for the White Aryan Resistance (WAR) into their scheme.
Lampley, Cecilia, and Baird were arrested at a McDonald's parking lot by Indian Nations Turnpike near Vernon and the three were held at the Muskogee jail.
From his jail cell, Lampley denied that the explosives were for destroying buildings rather they "for use in future guerrilla warfare when the United States is invaded by foreign troops.
"[8] In face of the charges against him, Crow struck a plea bargain and cooperated with the prosecution, adding his testimony to Schrum's who also provided taped conversations as evidence.
[5] Lampley had initially told Baird's attorney that Jesus Christ would represent him throughout the trial, but as the court date approached he made use of a defense lawyer.
[5] During the two-week trial of Lampley, Cecilia, and Baird, the three defendants' lawyers' had claimed that they had been entrapped by the FBI on behalf of "an overzealous government seeking retribution against militias for the Oklahoma City bombing.
They pointed out that Schrum had broken off his surveillance of Lampley between August and October to investigate a different militia in Eufaula – not something that would've happened "if they really thought he was going to hurt anybody".
"[10] On April 25, 1996, after five hours of deliberation a federal jury returned a verdict of guilty of conspiring to build an ammonium nitrate bomb on Lampley, Cecilia, and Baird.
[5] Crow as part of his plea deal plead guilty to misprision (concealment of a felony by one not a participant in the crime) received probation, a six-month stay in a halfway house, and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.