He will be put on supervised release after he gets out.
Baltimore, Md (KM) A Thurmont man who detonated a pipe bomb on the hood of a police vehicle is going off to prison. In US District Court in Baltimore on Wednesday, Kyle Mueller, 24, was sentenced to 10 years incarceration for malicious use of explosive materials. After he gets out, Mueller will be put on three-years of supervised release.
On August 3rd, 2016, according to his plea agreement, Mueller set off the pipe bomb on the hood of a Thurmont Police Department vehicle which was parked in front of an officer’s home. The vehicle was damaged, and pieces of the device entered the home through the picture window, traveling through the curtains and into an interior wall, according to US Attorney for Maryland, Robert Hur. He says no one was hurt, but there was that potential from this explosion. “So there certainly would have been injuries. Thank God, there were not. But there certainly could have been injuries had someone been present in the room in the officer’s home,” he says.
Mueller was arrested on August 5th. He waived his rights and agreed to talk with investigators. He admitted he purchased the materials to make the pipe bomb.
An investigation by federal authorities revealed that between July 20th and August 1st, 2016, Mueller purchased black powder at a firearms store in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. He also bought a roll of cannon fuse from an online company, and a pipe and end caps from a store in Pennsylvania All of these materials were used in making the bomb. Mueller also admitted to being in the area when the pipe bomb blew up.
The US Attorney;s Office says Mueller used a credit/debit card to make his purchases. He also used the card to buy food from a fast food restaurant. The last four digits on the card matched those on a receipt from the restaurant which was found on the street where the explosion occurred a few days prior to the detonation, according to prosecutors.
A search of Mueller’s home by police on August 5th located mental shavings, various drill bits, gray adhesive tape, and two-and-a-half-inch names similar to those used to construct the pipe bomb.
Hur was asked if investigators know why Mueller did it. “No, that’s not something that we’re privy to or that I can comment on right now,” he responded. “But thank God that this law enforcement officer was not injured and this is the kind of conduct that cannot and will not be tolerated.”
He also said for Mueller, ten years in prison means ten years. “There is no parole. So when a sentence of ten years is imposed, there’s no possibility of getting out only after a small portion of that sentence is imposed. There is no parole in the federal system,” says Hur.
By Kevin McManus