Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Bomb Charge in Vegas
According to his plea agreement, Fernandes possessed explosive parts and devices that weren’t registered with the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. The government alleged that Fernandes also transported explosive materials in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, and detonated devices in the Arizona desert.
Bogden said FBI agents seized firearms, explosive devices and noxious substances including napalm, ammonium and sodium sulfate and sulfur at Fernandes’ home. Agents also confiscated two inert hand grenades, five rifles, four handguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and instructive materials for making explosive devices, the prosecutor said.
Eller said only two guns belonged to Fernandes, and the napalm was used as a fire-starter during camping trips. She said other guns belonged to family members.
Federal officials and his lawyer said Fernandes described himself as commander of a Nevada militia that was an urban survivalist unit with six or seven members.
Eller described the group as a bunch of friends “playing Army” and posting “exaggerations and empty boasts” on the Internet.
The defense attorney earlier acknowledged that Fernandes was friends with Jake Benton Howell, a Utah college student who was arrested Dec. 21 with an unloaded assault rifle, ammunition, a 16-inch bayonet and three large survival-style knives in his car as he arrived at a Las Vegas high school that both he and Fernandes had attended.