Federal prosecutors say a federal grand jury in Jefferson City will decide within the next month whether to indict a Columbia man charged with the February arson at Columbia’s Planned Parenthood clinic.
42-year-old Wesley Brian Kaster is currently charged in a criminal complaint with maliciously damaging a building, owned by an organization that receives federal financial assistance, by means of fire or an explosive.
U.S. Attorney’s office spokesman Don Ledford tells Missourinet a complaint is temporary, and that the federal grand jury has 30 days to decide whether to indict Kaster.
Kaster was arrested on March 2 and was charged with the criminal complaint on March 4. He remains in the custody of U.S. marshals.
An affidavit filed by federal prosecutors says work gloves recovered from the Planned Parenthood building were allegedly the same make, model, color and size gloves from Kaster’s welding employer in Jefferson City.
The affidavit also says that when federal investigators searched Kaster’s home, they found numerous items of evidence “that definitively tied” Kaster to the crime scene.
The FBI investigated the case.