An Iowa man has been charged with making and placing a pipe bomb that was recently found by a young girl in a Des Moines suburb, but investigators do not believe he’s linked to a bomb that was left at a nearby polling place in March.
Agents looking into the explosive devices discovered in Ankeny, a fast-growing city of about 70,000, have found no connection between the two, said John Ham, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“At this point, there is nothing to indicate that the two are related,” Ham said.
On Friday, ATF agents arrested 46-year-old husband and father Chad Allen Williams after searching his home in the neighboring suburb of Johnston. Around a workbench in his garage, they found materials used to construct the bomb found in the middle of an Ankeny residential road June 9, including fireworks, a spool of fuse, a bottle of vehicle lubricant, zip ties, screws, nuts and metal wall anchors, according to charging documents.
Williams said he did not see or hear the device explode, and assumed he ran it over with the back wheels of his vehicle.
The next morning, an 8-year-old girl playing outside her home discovered the device and her mother called police. Agents with the Iowa Fire Marshal’s Office disarmed the explosive without setting it off.
Williams has been charged with making and possessing an unregistered explosive device and ordered jailed in Polk County pending a detention hearing next week. A judge ruled Tuesday that Williams qualified for a lawyer at public expense, even though records show he and his wife recently moved into a new home they purchased in April for $403,000. Federal public defender Joe Herrold, who is representing Williams, didn’t immediately return a message.
Residents within one block of where the device was found had reported hearing loud explosions on April 2, May 12 and June 7. The Ankeny Police Department said in a press release the investigation of Williams involved “the placement of several explosive devices” on Waywin Drive, but the criminal complaint against Williams does not make mention of any prior incidents or explain any potential motive.
Ankeny Police Chief Darius Potts says the other explosions are still under investigation.
