BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A Bowling Green, Kentucky, man pleaded guilty in United States District Court on Wednesday, before District Judge Greg N. Stivers, to the possession, manufacture and transfer of a firearm, namely an explosive device commonly referred to as a pipe bomb, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.
Jeremy Oneal Cherry, 38, admitted to the making and possessing two pipe bombs and later transferring one of the devices to another person. Each device involved approximate 5” x 1” PVC pipes, with end caps, with a green pyrotechnic fuse coming out of one endcap and each containing explosive powder.
According to an Affidavit attached to a criminal complaint, Cherry and John English, also from Bowling Green, were arrested on June 27, 2015. Police found a home-made explosive in Cherry’s car that was being driven at the time by English. Cherry admitted to giving the device to English, who according to the affidavit, had offered to buy the device. Further, a later search of Cherry’s home and property resulted in law enforcement finding items used to create the pipe bombs, such as PVC pipe, smokeless powder, and pyrotechnic fuses. . Further, Cherry showed the law enforcement officers a video clip of himself, captured on his smart phone, setting and lighting a fuse on one of the pipe bombs. The video showed the device blowing a wheel and tire 30 feet straight up in the air.
Cherry faces potential combined penalties of 30 years in prison, a $750,000.00 fine and three years of Supervised Release.
Cherry is scheduled for sentencing before Judge Stivers, in Bowling Green, on April 18, 2016, at 10:00 a.m., prevailing local time.
John Michael English, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, is charged in a separate indictment with being a felon in possession of a firearm (that is, the pipe bomb given to him by Cherry).
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless. The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), in conjunction with the Bowling Green Police Department, conducted the investigation.