- Federal brokers discovered one of many largest stockpiles of home made explosives they’ve ever seized after they arrested Brad Spafford in Virginia on a firearms cost final month, based on a court docket submitting by federal prosecutors.
- Protection attorneys for argued in a movement Tuesday that authorities have not produced proof that he was planning violence, additionally noting that he has no prison report.
- Investigators seized greater than 150 pipe bombs and different home made gadgets after they searched the house Spafford shares along with his spouse and two younger youngsters.
Federal brokers discovered one of many largest stockpiles of home made explosives they’ve ever seized after they arrested a Virginia man on a firearms cost final month, based on a court docket submitting by federal prosecutors.
Investigators seized greater than 150 pipe bombs and different home made gadgets after they searched the house of Brad Spafford northwest of Norfolk in December, the prosecutors stated in a movement filed Monday. The prosecutors wrote that that is believed to be “the most important seizure by variety of completed explosive gadgets in FBI historical past.”
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Many of the bombs have been present in a indifferent storage on the residence in Isle of Wight County, together with instruments and bomb-making supplies together with fuses and items of plastic pipe, based on court docket paperwork. The prosecutors additionally wrote: “A number of extra obvious pipe bombs have been present in a backpack within the residence’s bed room, fully unsecured,” within the residence he shares along with his spouse and two younger youngsters.
A stockpile of home made explosives federal brokers seized after they arrested Brad Spafford in Dec. 2024 is laid out on a desk. (U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace, Japanese District of Virginia through AP)
Spafford, 36, was charged with possession of a firearm in violation of the Nationwide Firearms Act. Regulation enforcement officers allege he owned an unregistered quick barrel rifle. Prosecutors stated that he faces “quite a few extra potential expenses” associated to the explosives.
Protection attorneys argued in a movement Tuesday that authorities have not produced proof that he was planning violence, additionally noting that he has no prison report. Additional, they query whether or not the explosive gadgets have been usable as a result of “professionally educated explosive technicians needed to rig the gadgets to blow up them.”
Federal brokers seized a stockpilem of explosives and different weapons after they arrested Brad Spafford, a Virginia man on a firearms cost in Dec. 2024. (U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace, Japanese District of Virginia through AP)
“There may be not a shred of proof within the report that Mr. Spafford ever threatened anybody and the rivalry that somebody could be at risk due to their political opinions and feedback is nonsensical,” the protection attorneys wrote.
Messages have been left Wednesday looking for additional remark from the protection attorneys who signed the movement, Lawrence Woodward and Jerry Swartz.
A rifle federal brokers seized after they arrested Brad Spafford in Dec. 2024 is measured. (U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace, Japanese District of Virginia through AP)
The investigation started in 2023 when an informant advised authorities that Spafford was stockpiling weapons and ammunition, based on court docket paperwork. The informant, a good friend, advised authorities Spafford had disfigured his hand in 2021 whereas engaged on home made explosives. Prosecutors stated he solely has two fingers on his proper hand. The informant advised authorities that Spafford was utilizing footage of the president, an obvious reference to President Joe Biden, for goal apply and that “he believed political assassinations needs to be introduced again,” prosecutors wrote.
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Quite a few regulation enforcement officers and bomb technicians searched the property on Dec. 17. The brokers situated the rifle and the explosive gadgets, a few of which had been hand-labeled as “deadly” and a few of which have been loaded right into a wearable vest, court docket paperwork state. Technicians detonated many of the gadgets on web site as a result of they have been deemed unsafe to move, although a number of have been stored for evaluation.
At a listening to Tuesday, federal Justice of the Peace Choose Lawrence Leonard decided that Spafford might be launched into home arrest at his mom’s residence however agreed to maintain him detained whereas the federal government recordsdata additional arguments.
In response, prosecutors reiterated why they imagine Spafford is harmful, writing that “whereas he isn’t identified to have engaged in any obvious violence, he has definitely expressed curiosity in the identical, via his manufacture of pipe bombs marked ‘deadly,’ his possession of riot gear and a vest loaded with pipe bombs, his help for political assassinations and use of the photographs of the President for goal apply.”
