FBI: Man threatened to ‘blow up' federal building

PHARR - A local man made a threat Thursday to bomb a federal building, court records state.

Nicholas Mancha Miller, of Pharr, made a 9-1-1 call about 9 p.m. and asked the operator for the location of the federal building "because he was going to blow it up," according to a criminal complaint the FBI filed Friday.

The document gives no indication whether the caller targeted a specific federal building or whether the threat was credible, but it notes that McAllen police dispatched units to the Bentsen Tower federal building at 1701 W. Business 83 and the FBI satellite office at 1200 N. McColl Road. Both buildings are in McAllen.

The criminal complaint further states:

Pharr police notified FBI agents of the threat and provided them details about the wireless communications tower that relayed the call.

Agents were then able to determine the call was made with an AT&T TracFone, and TracFone representatives told them the device was sold at a Radio Shack store in Pharr. A manager at that store identified the buyer as Mancha and described him as a "homeless white male who lived at the Salvation Army in McAllen."

Employees at the Salvation Army identified Miller from a Texas driver's license photo and disclosed the man's permanent address.

FBI agents interviewed Miller's roommate, who said the man told him someone had smashed Miller's phone.

The 9-1-1 call was played back to Miller's employer Ramiro Hernandez, an independent distribution contractor who does business with The Monitor, and to another employer Armando Posada, manager of a Cricket store in Edinburg.

Both supervisors identified Miller's voice.

It was unclear late Saturday whether Miller was in custody or remained at large.