is a probation violation.

And Special Agent Thomas Varney spent a great deal of effort to see that
this is exactly what happened. He made multiple trips to Easton and
convinced the local authorities to lock Cummings up as if he were the
most sadistic of killers.

On Friday, Cummings' probation officer did an aboutface and told the
court that he thought Cummings represented a very great danger to the
community. Outside the courtroom, he and the other local law enforcement
people crowded around Varney like kids surrounding a rock star. He was
their hero and maybe one day they would be just like him.

Well, isn't that strange: the Secret Service taking a strong interest in
the probation violation hearing of Ed Cummings for taking batteries out
of a tone dialer.

Not only were they interested, they testified against him!

HERE WE GO AGAIN

1/12/96. In addition to the judge, Northampton County probation officer
Scott Hoke, Secret Service agent Tom Varney, and Haverford Township
detective John Morris were in attendance. Varney and Morris arrived
in the same car.

Tom Varney of the Secret Service then told the judge that he believed
Cummings to be a major threat to society and that he was concerned
because of the upcoming presidential campaign. It was unclear if he
was actually implying that Cummings would somehow be a threat to the
president but the judge and the police listened intently.

This was the first time a Secret Service agent had come to their town.
Varney continued to describe the threatening items that had been found
in Cummings' residence: a copy of The Anarchist's Cookbook, publications
from Loompanix, a mag stripe read head (no electronics) which "could have
been used" to commit fraud, and material thought to be C4 but later
proven not to be. However, Varney said, the fact that it