Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester remained closed.
(Dina Rudick/Globe Staff)
ROCHESTER, N.H. - The police chief handed out candy canes as a holiday parade moved past Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign office yesterday, signs that life has returned to normal here since Friday's five-hour standoff with a man who held members of Clinton's campaign staff hostage.
Clinton's campaign office remained closed, but her 15 other offices in New Hampshire reopened yesterday.
"It's business as usual, " said Police Captain Paul Callahan. "People were fine, festive, it was a huge event," he said of the parade.
On Friday, police arrested Leeland Eisenberg, 46, after he allegedly went to Clinton's Rochester campaign office with a fake bomb wired to his body.
The device, made from road flares and a phony detonator, triggered a massive police response, involving more than 100 officers, including tactical units and police helicopters and the evacuation of much of downtown.
Eisenberg is expected to be arraigned today on charges that include four counts of kidnapping, one count of criminal threatening, and one count of using false explosives, police said. He is being held at the Stratford Correctional Center and will be arraigned via video link in Rochester District Court this afternoon.
Callahan said prosecutors are likely to paint a more vivid picture of Eisenberg's hours inside the Clinton campaign office during the court hearing. They also plan to review his criminal history.
The charges are Class B felonies, Police Captain Paul Callahan said. If convicted, Eisenberg faces a maximum sentence of 42 years in jail. Federal authorities have said they are considering charging Eisenberg.
The Globe previously reported that Eisenberg was one of 541 victims of clergy sexual abuse who received payments in the landmark 2003 settlement with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
Eisenberg's stepson, Benjamin Warren, said his mother filed for divorce from Eisenberg last week, after less than two years of marriage. Eisenberg also was not allowed to drive a car because of a past drinking and driving offense, Warren said.
Eisenberg was charged in April with two counts of stalking and in June with driving while intoxicated, according to a Rochester police log published on the website of the local newspaper.
In 1999 and 2000, he was incarcerated at Bridgewater State Hospital's treatment center for sexual offenders, state records show.
Warren said he spent Thursday night at Eisenberg's trailer, where he said Eisenberg was drinking heavily and appeared distressed. Warren said his stepfather told him that he could no longer afford his medication for bipolar disorder and that he had no money to see a doctor. Warren said Eisenberg was upset that a local hospital turned him away when he sought help.
After seeing a Clinton campaign advertisement, he thought Clinton could help him, Warren said.
"He never talked about building any kind of bomb or anything like that," Warren said in a phone interview Saturday. "All he said to me was he was feeling depressed, and he was going to do something the next day to ensure he would be in the hospital by Friday night."
The next morning, Warren said Eisenberg asked him to get him some cigarettes and road flares. Warren told him he could get flares at an auto parts shop. Warren said Eisenberg took a cab to the store to buy them Friday morning.
"I was like, whatever," Warren said. "I kind of blew it off. I didn't think he would do anything like that."
A spokesman for Governor John Lynch said yesterday that Eisenberg had contacted the governor's office the day before the hostage situation. Officials said someone from the office called him back but could not reach him.
Eisenberg, who Warren said has no children, had most recently been employed at a Rochester car dealership.
The owner of the car lot, who did not want to be identified, said Eisenberg worked for him for a few weeks.
The owner said he fired Eisenberg and called Rochester police after learning that an inspection sticker on a car sold by Eisenberg appeared to be missing.
Clinton's New Hampshire spokeswoman, Kathleen Strand, said the Rochester office will remain closed until further notice. She said three of the staff members held captive were full-time workers who came from out of state to work on the campaign. Clinton canceled some campaign appearances and visited them after their release.
Staff members were not discussing details of the hostage crisis out of respect for the victims and because the investigation is ongoing, Strand said.
Callahan said each staff member held captive has been assigned a victim's advocate to help him or her through the court process. "They were legitimately scared," he said. "They were shaken up," he said.
Globe correspondent John Forrester and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
