Suspected pipe-bomb builder Jose Pimentel could be offered a plea deal, prosecutors said today. Pimentel has yet to be indicted more than six weeks after his arrest at the New York apartment of a police informant, and a grand jury action was postponed for the third time on Monday in order to give Pimentel and his attorneys a chance to review “materials” from the Manhattan district attorney. Mayor Bloomberg and Police Comissioner Ray Kelly presented the Pimentel arrest proudly to the press, describing him as a “lone wolf” and “Al Qaeda sympathizer,” but subsequent information called into question the suspect’s ability to do anything on his own. As it turned out, the FBI had passed on the case more than once, and in airing their doubts about its seriousness, hurt the NYPD’s feelings.
