Nevada man held on firearm, bomb-making charges

By Scott Sonner, Associated Press

Friday, March 11, 2016 | 11:44 a.m.

RENO — Sheriff's deputies are investigating whether a 26-year-old rural northeast Nevada man arrested with a cache of weapons and explosive devices may have any ties to extremist or terrorist groups.

Thomas Mooney of Spring Creek has been held in lieu of $1.3 million bail since he was arrested last weekend and booked into the Elko County Jail on suspicion of dozens of counts of firearm and bomb-making related charges.

Mooney doesn't have a lawyer, but he was expected to be appointed a public defender Friday afternoon when he was scheduled to make his initial appearance in Elko Justice Court.

A sheriff's deputy who served in the U.S. Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan spotted what appeared to be improvised explosive devices while responding to a call early Saturday about a suicidal woman at a home where Mooney lives with his parents in Spring Creek about 25 miles from Elko, Acting Undersheriff Kevin McKinney said.

They included a dozen "functional" pipe bombs, some with wicks and one with "multiple nails duct taped to the exterior ... consistent with improvised explosive devices intended for anti-personnel purposes," according to the probable cause filing.

Deputies and a bomb squad evacuated several neighboring homes before securing a search warrant, seizing firearms including an AK-47, bolt-action rifle, shotgun and ammunition, and detonating some of the explosives on site. They also found several military manuals, including U.S. Special Forces and Ranger handbooks explaining the use of improvised devices, military explosives and military ordnance, the Elko Daily Free Press first reported earlier this week.

Since his arrest, McKinney said local and federal authorities have been trying to determine what "his intentions were."

"We really haven't got any good answers. Friends and family are kind of circling the wagons," McKinney told The Associated Press. "We're trying to investigate whether he had any beefs with anybody, or whether he's part of an extremist group. It may be months before we have anything definite."

McKinney said they immediately contacted the FBI, which helped the sheriff's department, but he declined to provide details. "Any time you have a suspicion of possible — for lack of a better term — possible terrorists, it is better to include them (FBI)," he said.

Officials for the FBI and Justice Department declined to comment. Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Las Vegas, said no federal charges are pending.

McKinney told reporters after the arrest that detectives recovered a number of items like those used in the Boston Marathon bombing, including duct tape, steel piping, fuses, ball bearings, BB pellets and chemicals.

"Multiple items matching those used in the construction of the functional explosive devices" were discovered, including ammonium nitrate and other chemicals the bomb squad "identified as being used in the manufacture of homemade explosives," according to Detective Nick Stake, who wrote the probable-cause report after Deputy Brian Shoaf detailed the discoveries.

Mooney's criminal record includes a felony drug conviction in Arizona in 2009. He also had been arrested locally several times on drug, alcohol and larceny charges, and he pleaded guilty to obstructing a public officer, the Free Press reported.

Mooney's $1.3 million bail was based on $25,000 for each of 55 different offenses detailed on his booking sheet. Elko County District Attorney Mark Torvinen filed a formal complaint on Wednesday with 16 formal counts:

• 12 counts of possession of an explosive or incendiary device

• 3 counts of possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a felony offense

• 1 count of possession of a component of explosive or incendiary device with the intent to manufacture