(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In 2017, Oklahoma man Jerry Drake Varnell was the target of a sting operation to bomb a bank.
In that case, the FBI initially determined that Varnell, who is schizophrenic, “does not appear to have the means to actually commit this act.” Nevertheless, the FBI had an informant introduce him to an undercover agent, who provided him with a van, barrels, a burner phone, latex gloves, electrical tape, and 1,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fuel oil.
The agent then picked Varnell up from his house, drove him to a storage unit, and gave him step-by-step instructions on how to assemble an explosive device using the materials the FBI supplied. After that, the undercover agent insisted that Varnell be the one to drive the van downtown, where he was arrested after attempting to detonate the bomb.
I learned today that ex-FBI agent Barry Black wasn't just involved in Waco and OKC. He finished his career w/ another OKC bomb plot–one w/ entrapment tactics so egregious that it would make the Whitmer case agents blush.
For example: https://t.co/e7pszfhggo pic.twitter.com/6X6gDPqgvs— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) February 11, 2026
Despite those factors, Varnell was convicted in early 2019, and sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2020.
It looks like things have gotten even worse for Varnell since then. In a recently filed lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons, he claims to have been sexually assaulted by fellow inmates and abused by prison staff. Varnell also said in his lawsuit that he’s a “mixed-race, intersex, bisexual male with identifying female characteristics.”
According to his Dec. 22 lawsuit, in September 2022 he was placed in a cell with an “Afro-American, homosexual male named Deshaun Sellers.” Varnell said he was sexually assaulted by Sellers, who allegedly threatened to kill him if he told anyone.
Varnell still decided to file a complaint, and he was transferred to another unit. However, he said he had a similar experience with another inmate, J. McFadden.
Varnell was again transferred. But this time, prison officials saw that he was wearing nipple rings, and forced him to have them removed.
According to the lawsuit, a prison official used plastic sheers, which “tore Plaintiff’s nipple and areolas.”
“Plaintiff was in excruciating pain from the torturous operation,” his lawsuit says.
Additionally, Varnell said he had to shower in front of prison officers, medical staff and other inmates, which further traumatized him.
Varnell’s lawsuit seeks $5 million in compensatory damages. The prison has yet to respond to his lawsuit.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
