Feds keeping close eye on ‘Dr. Chaos’ 18 years after cyanide scare
Federal authorities appear to be keeping a close eye on a man who caused an uproar nearly two decades ago when he was caught storing cyanide in the CTA Blue Line subway, months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Joseph Konopka, who referred to himself by the dramatic nickname “Dr. Chaos,” finally left prison in July, records show. He did so almost 17 years after he pleaded guilty to possessing a chemical weapon. Since then, the 43-year- old has apparently already caused concern with comments made to WGN News.
Now, court filings also reveal the Federal Bureau of Prisons suspected Konopka had hatched an escape plot behind bars, prompting them to move him to the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Konopka countered that no formal allegation was ever made against him, because it “would not have survived even the meager due process” of the prison system.
Regardless, his conduct led to a telephonic court hearing Friday. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly ordered Konopka to submit to search by a probation officer of his person, property, home and other possessions “whenever the probation officer has a reasonable suspicion” of a violation of Konopka’s five-year supervised release, according to court records.
The judge declined to impose a condition sought by probation officials that would have restricted Konopka’s contact with the media.
Konopka was arrested in March 2002 after trespassing with two others in a University of Illinois at Chicago building and fleeing through underground tunnels. That’s when authorities discovered his stash of cyanide, prompting a shutdown of the Blue and Red lines for hours and a massive search of the underground system.
In his November 2002 plea agreement, Konopka admitted he’d taken the bottled cyanide from an abandoned warehouse near 49th and Halsted. He stored the chemicals and other personal belongings in a substation near the Washington-Dearborn stop on the Blue Line. He also told the FBI he led a group in Wisconsin called the Realm of Chaos.
Ahead of Konopka’s sentencing in 2003, defense attorney Matthew J. Madden explained Konopka had developed an interest in computers and exploration at a very young age. At 14, he was sneaking out of the house to explore his hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
U.S. District Judge Wayne Andersen gave Konopka 13 years behind bars in 2003. The next year, a federal judge in Wisconsin gave him nearly 21 years more for vandalizing utility equipment and causing power outages there. A portion of the two sentences were to be served at the same time.
While in federal custody in September 2009, Konopka allegedly tried to “construct devices intended to interfere with video and communication equipment” and “disable fence alarms” within his prison facility, according to federal prosecutors. Prison officials suspected it was part of an escape plot, prosecutors said. In May 2010, at a different facility, he was allegedly “discovered to have various electronic devices, circuits, and wires in his cell.”
In a court filing earlier this year, Konopka acknowledged “he did possess ordinarily-authorized electronic devices, some of which had been altered or repaired in various ways, while incarcerated.” But he said he was never formally accused of trying to escape. And in a separate filing, Madden said, “ten-year old alleged conduct not supported with any official findings is a pretty thin reed.”
The back-and-forth appears to have been prompted by last November’s WGN Investigates four-part podcast and TV series, “Chasing Chaos,” which revisited Konopka’s case and included an interview with Konopka. He said, “I regret getting caught,” and he said if he had to go back to prison, he wouldn’t mind returning to the supermax.
But Konopka also said he had “no ill-intent, I didn’t have any plan to do any terrible thing with the cyanide.”
The interview led probation officials to seek new conditions for Konopka’s supervised release, records show. Konopka argued he did not reach out to WGN. He said the station repeatedly reached out to his family and “was clearly intent on doing a report” regardless of whether he agreed to an interview.