FBI finds 150 homemade bombs at Virginia home in one of the largest such seizures, prosecutors say

NORFOLK, Va. — Federal agents found one of the largest caches of homemade explosives they have ever seized when they arrested a Virginia man on gun charges last month, according to a court filing by federal prosecutors.

Investigators seized more than 150 pipe bombs and other homemade devices when they searched Brad Spafford’s northwest Norfolk home in December, prosecutors said in a motion filed Monday. Prosecutors wrote that this is believed to be “the largest seizure in terms of the number of explosives completed in FBI history.”

According to court documents, most of the bombs were found in a detached garage at the Isle of Wight County home, along with bomb-making tools and materials, including fuses and lengths of plastic pipe. Prosecutors also wrote: “Several additional apparent pipe bombs were found in a backpack in the master bedroom of the home, completely unsecured,” in the home he shares with his wife and two young children.

Spafford, 36, was charged with possession of a firearm contrary to the National Firearms Act. Law enforcement officials claim he owned an unregistered short-barreled rifle. Prosecutors said he faces “numerous additional possible charges” related to the explosives.

Defense attorneys argued in a motion Tuesday that authorities have not presented evidence that he planned violence, also noting that he has no criminal record. They further question whether the explosives were useful because “professionally trained explosives technicians had to manipulate the devices to detonate them.”

“There is not a shred of evidence in the record that Mr. Spafford ever threatened anyone and the claim that anyone could be in danger because of his political views and comments is nonsensical,” the defense attorneys wrote.

Messages were left Wednesday seeking further comment from the defense attorneys who signed the motion, Lawrence Woodward and Jerry Swartz.

The investigation began in 2023 when an informant told authorities that Spafford was stockpiling guns and ammunition, court documents show. The informant, a friend, told authorities that Spafford disfigured his hand in 2021 while working on homemade explosives. Prosecutors say he has only two fingers on his right hand. The informant told authorities that Spafford used photos of the president, an apparent reference to President Joe Biden, for target practice and that “he believed political killings should come back,” prosecutors wrote.

Numerous law enforcement officers and bomb technicians searched the property on December 17. Officers found the gun and explosives, some of which were hand-labeled “lethal” and some of which were loaded into a portable vest, court documents state. Technicians detonated most of the devices on site because they were deemed unsafe to transport, although several were retained for analysis.

At a hearing Tuesday, federal magistrate judge Lawrence Leonard ruled that Spafford could be released under house arrest at his mother’s home, but he agreed to hold him while the government makes further arguments.

In response, prosecutors reiterated why they believe Spafford is dangerous, writing that “while he is not known to have engaged in any apparent violence, he has certainly shown an interest in the same, through his manufacture of pope bombs labeled as ‘ deadly’, his possession of riot gear and a vest full of pipe bombs, his support for political assassinations and the use of the president’s photographs for target practice.”