Details are starting to develop about a big stash of explosives recovered from a Las Vegas hotel room but they’re still kind of murky, like one of those old Polaroids where you get a bunch of streaks and swirls until the final image eventually appears.
A hundred pounds of explosives
When the feds came to ask a woman why her cell phone pinged from near the scene of an explosives robbery in northern Nevada, the motorist had a plausible alibi. She was there on the day before Christmas, but just driving past. She did happen to notice a red pickup truck pulling a white trailer at the construction company, though.
The next person they wanted to ask about a cell phone echo was Evan Ray Atkinson, of California. The 38-year-old happens to drive a “maroon” Chevrolet Silverado pickup. The ATF was anxious to get back 100 pounds of dynamite with all the trimmings.
By January 4, they had gathered enough intelligence to move in. Atkinson had hauled the explosives to a Wyndham Suites in Henderson, just outside Las Vegas. They moved in while the suspect was out of his room. After finding dynamite and igniters there, they found more in his truck and trailer.
The Reno District Court records from his January 20 indictment charge him with “theft, possession, improper storage and transport of explosive materials.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Christopher Chiou is credited in a statement confirming the explosives bust.
“Federal agents seized 39 sticks of dynamite, more than a mile of detonating cord, fuse lighters and ignition boosters from his hotel room, pickup truck and trailer.” The trailer was white. Nobody is speculating as to what Atkinson “planned to do with the materials.”
Decades in prison
At his appearance in federal court on Monday, the magistrate judge set him free without any bond as long as he wears an ankle bracelet. The six explosives counts he’s charged with could get him “decades in prison if he is convicted.”
He lawyered up and says he’ll straighten it out in court. “Mr. Atkinson has entered a not guilty plea and will address the allegations in court,” his attorney, Richard Schonfeld, verified Tuesday.
The prosecutors weren’t real thrilled with that lax custody order since “Atkinson was found with about 100 pounds of dynamite and ignition materials.” You don’t find that kind of gear at the hardware store, like you once could.
Atkinson went straight to the explosives locker at the Kinkaid Mill mine in Mineral County. The company reported “100 pounds of detonating cord, boosters and dynamite” missing, the day after Christmas.
When a deputy came to investigate, he “noticed tire tracks that did not match the treads on the workers’ vehicles and surmised that they belonged to a full-size pickup hauling a trailer.”
The witness backed that up when she told them that she had noticed “a pickup and trailer parked at the business’ front gate,” which seemed odd. Also, the sharp eyed witness noted, the gate was “damaged.” She didn’t know a thing about any explosives.
