Largest explosive device seizure in FBI history in Virginia

A Virginia man was arrested last month after investigators found what the Federal Bureau of Investigation described as the largest seizure of explosive devices in the agency’s history, prosecutors said in court papers.

Brad Spafford, 36, of the Isle of Wight, Virginia, was arrested Dec. 17 after federal agents executing a search warrant found more than 150 apparent explosive devices on Spafford’s farm east of Newport News, Virginia, according court records.

Spafford was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle, which carries a possible sentence of 10 years in prison. But Spafford faces additional charges for possession of unregistered destructive devices, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Gantt said in a motion filed Dec. 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The filing came as part of prosecutors’ argument against Stafford’s release from jail to his mother’s home and electronic monitoring, Gantt said in the filing.

The conditions imposed “are simply insufficient to mitigate these extraordinary risks to public safety,” Gantt wrote. “They would do little to prevent him from obtaining more firearms, including a sniper rifle he possessed when the search warrant was executed.”

Spafford will remain in custody pending a decision on the federal prosecutor’s appeal. Spafford’s attorneys said Wednesday that there was no scheduled date for a hearing on the motion.

Prosecutors: Source informed FBI about alleged cache of weapons

Spafford was arrested after a nearly two-year investigation during which a confidential source told the FBI about Spafford’s ownership of a short-barreled rifle and his storage of homemade weapons and ammunition, prosecutors said.

The source said Spafford told him he had lost three fingers on his right hand while “working with a homemade explosive device,” according to the warrant. The source then told the FBI that Spafford was using photographs of President Joe Biden for target practice at a shooting range and “stated that he believed political assassinations should come back, and that the federal government had taken children missing in the news to be trained as school shooters.”

After the attempted assassination of President-elect Donald Trump last year, prosecutors said Spafford told the source that he “hoped the shooter didn’t miss ‘Kamala.'”

According to prosecutors, in October 2024, the source was wearing a wire when he met with Spafford and learned that he kept a jar labeled “dangerous” in a freezer accessible to the rest of the family, Spafford’s wife and two children. . “The defendant also stated that he had HMTD, which is a highly unstable primary explosive device that does not require the addition of any material to detonate,” prosecutors’ filing reads.

Spafford also told the source that he had “ETN, a secondary explosive device,” and discussed the possibility of erecting “a 360-degree turret for a .50-caliber firearm on the roof,” the document adds.

When the FBI carried out its search warrant, “the defendant was interviewed and admitted to having a short-barreled rifle and an HMTD, but repeatedly denied having any explosive materials,” prosecutors said. His wife told investigators that he “had firearms, but they were all legal and he denied any knowledge that he had explosive materials, even in the freezer,” according to the court record.

Investigators found most of the explosive devices in a detached garage along with “numerous tools and materials for making explosives, a homemade mortar and riot gear,” prosecutors said, adding that “another completely unsecured homemade bombs were found in a backpack in the bedroom at home.”

Notebook containing ‘recipes’

Prosecutors’ presentation included photos of the rifle, explosives and the backpack, which had a patch that said “No Lives Matter.” According to an August 2024 alert from New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and PreparednessNo Lives Matter is “an accelerationist extremist ideology that promotes targeted attacks, mass murder, and criminal activity, and has historically encouraged its members to self-harm and mistreat animals.”

According to the file, the FBI also found: a notebook that “contained ‘recipes’ on how to manufacture explosive materials and devices, including grenades, and inventories of materials that can be used for such manufacture.”

Prosecutors said the FBI’s explosives unit detonated most of the material and devices “at the scene because they were deemed too unstable to transport and maintain.”

The FBI analyzed several devices, including an explosive device with metal spheres inside intended to fragment and cause additional damage, the document said.

‘Inclination to manufacture and store improvised explosive devices’

Spafford’s defense attorneys responded in a court presentation that Spafford has not been accused of committing any violent acts and should be allowed to be released under conditions.

Although Spafford is not known to have committed any violent acts, his actions suggest an interest in doing so, prosecutors said. “The defendant has undisputed knowledge, resources, and an extreme inclination to manufacture and stockpile improvised explosive devices,” they wrote.

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