A man who threatened to blow up his old Ford van just down the street from the White House on January 18th pleaded guilty to making a false explosives threat yesterday in federal court, the Washington Post reports.

Lowell W. Timmers issued the threat because he was angry that his daughter’s fiance, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was being held by immigration authorities and faced deportation.

Timmers drove a red van into a secure area near the White House at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. When Secret Service agents tried to get him to move, he flashed his hand, which held what appeared to be a switching device for a possible bomb.

“I want my son, and I’m not leaving until my son-in-law is out of jail,” Pasichow described Timmers as saying. “I have 10 gallons of gas in here, and I will blow up the van and the White House.”

Pasichow described the chaotic scene that ensued about 3:30 p.m., at the start of the afternoon rush hour. Streets were hastily closed, resulting in widespread gridlock and stranded commuters.

After 4 1/2 hours of negotiations, Timmers surrendered peacefully. Police recovered six glass canisters with a yellowish liquid and six five-gallon metal gasoline canisters from the van, Pasichow said. According to court papers, the device that Timmers displayed only appeared to be related to a bomb.

Timmers’ daughter has described her father as “a man who volunteered to fight in Vietnam as a young man and became a pacifist who opposed the war in Iraq and the policies of President Bush.”

Pacifist. Uh-huh.