Grant Co Deputies thwart Moses Lake bomb threat

A 39-year-old Moses Lake man is behind bars after a suspected homemade explosive device was found in the back seat of his car during a traffic stop Thursday in Moses Lake. Grant Co. Sheriffs investigators then uncovered the man’s plan to threaten to bomb his former employer.

The suspect is in the Grant County Jail on $100,000 bail.

The traffic stop was in the main entrance driveway of the REC Silicon plant on Road N-Northeast, but the company is not believed to be a target.

According to the probable cause statement submitted to the court by investigators, the man stated that up until 2015 he had worked as a chemical driver for Nutrien Ag Solutions, and believed the business did not have safe workplace practices, and even claimed his exposure to chemicals contributed to his daughter’s birth defects.

He stated that after taking fertilizer from the plant, he obtained diesel fuel and constructed a mortar as an ignition source. He said he intended to build an explosive device, enter the Moses Lake plant with the device, then drive to the company's offices in Pasco to inform the management of his plot and “explain how dangerous and easy it would be for someone who wanted to do some damage to succeed.”

When asked by a detective about what the bomb would do, the suspect asked the detective if he had “ever heard of Timothy McVeigh?”.

Ammonium nitrate fertilizer and diesel fuel oil combine to create ANFO, which is a compound used both as a commercial explosive and in the manufacture of improvised bombs.