After partially searching the home and interviewing her husband for about 45 minutes about pressure cookers and bombs, the investigators left. The story is mysterious, because it appears Catalano's husband did not verify what government agency the investigators were from. She says they had badges and guns, and writes that they were members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, but spokespersons for the FBI and JTTF
told the Guardian they know nothing about it.
Meanwhile, confusion reigns at the press offices for Nassau County and Suffolk County police. A press liaison for the Nassau County Police Department told us his phone's been ringing nonstop with inquiries. "I am trying to find out what's going on with this," he told me. "I was told that Nassau County police had absolutely no involvement in this whatsoever. I called the FBI field office in Melville and they knew nothing, the Joint Terrorism Task Force said they knew nothing. But a press rep for the FBI in NYC said Nassau County
was involved, so I have to go up the chain to bigger people."
20 minutes later, another spokesperson for the Nassau County police department told me, "We contacted all our commands within the Nassau County Police Department. We did not visit this woman, and we do not know what police agency did visit her." The Suffolk County police department spokesperson said she was still trying to determine whether they were involved. The FBI press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
