Nevada man held on firearm and bomb-making charges
RENO — Sheriff’s deputies in northeast Nevada are investigating whether an Elko County man arrested with a cache of weapons and explosive devices may have ties to extremist or terrorist groups.
Thomas Mooney, 26, of Spring Creek appeared in Elko Justice Court on Friday afternoon on a 16-count criminal complaint stemming from his arrest last weekend, when authorities seized firearms and alleged bomb-making materials from a home where he lived with his parents.
Justice of the Peace Mason Simons appointed the public defender’s office to represent him and reduced his bail from $1.3 million to $385,000.
A sheriff’s deputy who served in the U.S. Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan spotted what appeared to be improvised explosive devices while responding to a call early Saturday about a suicidal woman at the home in rural Spring Creek about 25 miles from Elko, Acting Undersheriff Kevin McKinney said.
They included a dozen “functional” pipe bombs, some with wicks and one with “multiple nails duct taped to the exterior … consistent with improvised explosive devices intended for anti-personnel purposes,” according to the probable cause filing.
Deputies and a bomb squad evacuated several neighboring homes before securing a search warrant, seizing firearms including an AK-47, bolt-action rifle, shotgun and ammunition, and detonating some of the explosives on site. They also found several military manuals, including U.S. Special Forces and Ranger handbooks explaining the use of improvised devices, military explosives and military ordnance, the Elko Daily Free Press first reported earlier this week.
Since Mooney’s arrest, local and federal authorities have been trying to determine what “his intentions were,” McKinney said.
“We really haven’t got any good answers. Friends and family are kind of circling the wagons,” McKinney told The Associated Press. “We’re trying to investigate whether he had any beefs with anybody, or whether he’s part of an extremist group. It may be months before we have anything definite.”
The 16-count complaint filed by Elko County District Attorney Mark Torvinen includes 12 counts of possession of an explosive or incendiary device, three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of possession of a component of explosive or incendiary device with the intent to manufacture.
A preliminary hearing has not yet been set.
