Federal agents found one of the largest stockpiles of homemade explosives they have ever seized when they arrested a Virginia man on a firearms charge last month, according to a court filing by federal prosecutors. Investigators seized more than 150 pipe bombs and other homemade devices when they searched the home of Brad Spafford northwest of Norfolk in December, the prosecutors said in a motion filed Monday. The prosecutors wrote that this is believed to be “the largest seizure by number of finished explosive devices in FBI history.” Most of the bombs were found in a detached garage at the home in Isle of Wight County, along with tools and bomb-making materials including fuses and pieces of plastic pipe, according to court documents. The prosecutors also wrote: “Several additional apparent pipe bombs were found in a backpack in the home’s bedroom, completely unsecured,” in the home he shares with his wife and two young children. Spafford, 36, was charged with possession of a firearm in violation of the National Firearms Act. Law enforcement officers allege he owned an unregistered short barrel rifle. Prosecutors said that he faces “numerous additional potential charges” related to the explosives. Defense attorneys argued in a motion Tuesday that authorities haven’t produced evidence that he was planning violence, also noting that he has no criminal record. Further, they question whether the explosive devices were usable because “professionally trained explosive technicians had to rig the devices to explode them.” (…) The investigation began in 2023 when an informant told authorities that Spafford was stockpiling weapons and ammunition, according to court documents. The informant, a friend, told authorities Spafford had disfigured his hand in 2021 while working on homemade explosives. Prosecutors said he only has two fingers on his right hand. The informant told authorities that Spafford was using pictures of the president, an apparent reference to President Joe Biden, for target practice and that “he believed political assassinations should be brought back,” prosecutors wrote.
via ap news: FBI finds 150 homemade bombs at Virginia home in one of the largest such seizures, prosecutors say
siehe auch: 2-fingered man caught with largest cache of homemade pipe bombs in FBI history. Federal prosecutors on Monday fought to keep a man behind bars after investigators made the “largest seizure of homemade explosives in FBI history” at his home earlier this month, court documents show. (…) On Dec. 17, federal agents arrested Spafford for possession of an unregistered short barrel rifle and reportedly “located not only the rifle but a stockpile of more than 150 homemade improvised explosive devices, assessed as pipe bombs,” the complaint noted. Most of the explosives, according to prosecutors, were found organized by color in Spafford’s detached garage, with some labeled “lethal” and others “preloaded into an apparent wearable vest.” Additional pipe bombs were found unsecured in a backpack labeled “#nolivesmatter” in the defendant’s room. Federal investigators also recovered tools and materials used to manufacture explosives, a homemade mortar and riot gear, the complaint detailed. Inside Spafford’s freezer, bomb technicians located HMTD, “an explosive material so unstable it can be exploded merely as a result of friction of temperature changes,” which was marked with the words “Do Not Touch” and “Dangerous.” A notebook recovered during the search allegedly contained an extensive list of explosive recipes, including how to make materials like HMTD, the military grade explosive C-4 and other lethal devices like grenades. Federal attorneys, who noted that Spafford had expressed anti-government views and used a picture of President Biden for target practice at a local shooting range, said the defendant “poses an extreme danger to the community.”; FBI finds largest explosive cache on a Virginia farm. The FBI says it has discovered more than 150 bombs during a raid on a farm in Virginia – thought to be the largest such cache seized by the law-enforcement agency in its history. Brad Spafford was arrested on 17 December in Isle of Wight County, 180 miles (290km) south of Washington DC, after a tip-off that he was stockpiling weapons and homemade ammunition on the property he shares with his wife and two young children. Investigators say some of the devices were found in a bedroom in an unsecured backpack labelled “#nolivesmatter” – an apparent reference to a far-right, anti-government movement. A lawyer for Mr Spafford denied he is a danger to the community and is seeking his client’s release from pre-trial detention.