DENVER (AP) — A Loveland Army veteran who pleaded guilty after the FBI found four pipe bombs in his home last year is asking for leniency when he is sentenced Wednesday.
The bombs were discovered in Bradley Bunn's Loveland home in May 2020 as he prepared to go to an armed protest of pandemic restrictions at the state Capitol.
FBI agents found four pipe bombs in his home and two, one-pound containers of cartridge-reloading gunpowder inside his vehicle, which the U.S. Attorney’s office said is “a potential pipe bomb component.” The devices were rendered safe by bomb technicians at a gun range, federal officials said. An affidavit released after Bunn's arrest said that bomb technicians found each pipe bomb contained explosive material.
When Bunn spoke with FBI agents, he told them he didn’t have “a lot of experience in this” and hadn’t built such items before, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit says that Bunn told agents that he planned to use the bombs in the event that police raided his home to seize his weapons.
When the search warrant was executed, U.S. Attorney for Colorado Jason Dunn said that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had issued an alert saying it had identified threats of violence toward FBI agents and local law enforcement coming from a “white supremacist extremist instant messaging group” that was claiming a “quick reaction force” was staging in Fort Collins in response to the raid. Dunn said there was misinformation about Bunn's arrest online.
In March 2021, Bunn pleaded guilty to five federal firearms and explosives charges. He agreed to plead guilty to one count of making firearms in violation of the National Firearms Act and four counts of possession of an unregistered firearm or destructive device.
He faces up to 10 years in prison, fines of up to $10,000, and up to three years of supervised release for each count
He is expected to be sentenced Wednesday.
His lawyer says a line can be drawn from his combat experience to the declining mental health and delusional thinking that she claims led him to create the bombs.
