A man from Hannibal, Missouri on Monday admitted making a series of illegal pipe bombs in 2022.
Joshua Eugene Rickey, 34, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of manufacture of one or more unregistered destructive devices and one count of possession of one or more unregistered destructive devices. He admitted to making a series of pipe bombs out of sparklers and plastic or metal pipes between July 4, 2022, and Aug. 13, 2022. Rickey admitted detonating one in a burned-out house across from his own home in late July 2022. He also lit one at his grandmother’s house, damaging a fence.
Rickey is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on October 30. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hannibal Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj is prosecuting the case.
