Washington – The FBI found the largest cache of “finished explosive devices” in the bureau’s history during the arrest of a Virginia man earlier this month, according to court documents.
Federal prosecutors are seeking to keep the man, Brad Spafford, in custody after his arrest on Dec. 17 for allegedly possessing an unregistered short-barreled rifle. While executing a search warrant on Spafford’s 20-acre farm in Isle of Wight County, investigators found “a cache of more than 150 homemade improvised explosive devices” that were determined to be pipe bombs, according to the prosecutors They said some of the pipe bombs were labeled “lethal” and “preloaded in an apparent wearable vest.”
F.B.I
Most of the gadgets were allegedly found in a detached garage, while others were found in a rucksack in a “completely unsecured” bedroom. Prosecutors said Spafford also “admitted to keeping a jar in the freezer of HMTD, an explosive material that is so unstable that it can explode just as a result of the friction of temperature changes.” Investigators found the jar stored next to food and labeled “dangerous” and “do not touch,” prosecutors said.
according to court documentswhich were first reported by the website Judicial supervisionthe investigation began in early 2023 after Spafford’s neighbor told authorities that Spafford was storing guns and had lost three fingers on his right hand.
“Even after losing his own fingers as a result of his homemade explosives, he made the apparently remarkable decision to keep an extraordinarily dangerous explosive in the freezer of the house next to food that the whole family could access ” prosecutors said. arguing that the man “poses an extreme danger to the community” and should remain in custody.
The neighbor also told authorities that Spafford was using photos of President Biden for target practice at a local shooting range. The neighbor said Spafford believed “political murders should be brought back” and that “kids missing in the news had been taken by the federal government to be trained as school shooters.” After President-elect Donald Trump was nearly killed in July at a rally in Pennsylvania, Spafford allegedly told his neighbor he “hoped the shooter didn’t miss Kamala,” prosecutors said.
His lawyers have argued he should be released pending trial, telling the court he has “no criminal record, no history of substance abuse or mental illness.”
“There is no evidence in the record that Mr. Spafford has ever threatened anyone and the argument that anyone could be in danger because of his political views and comments is absurd,” his lawyers. he wrote in a presentation on Tuesday. “In fact, the evidence showed that Mr. Spafford is not a danger, but a hard-working family man with no criminal record.”