Inset: Brad Spafford (Western Tidewater Regional Jail). Left: The illegal short-barreled rifle Spafford allegedly possessed (DOJ). Right: President Joe Biden walks towards Air Force One after speaking with reporters at Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, on his way to Camp David (AP Photo/Susan Walsh).
The FBI last month arrested a Virginia man after agents allegedly recovered a short-barreled rifle and 150 pipe bombs — considered the largest seizure of such devices in the agency’s history — on his farm.
According to court documents, agents began investigating in early 2023 when they were tipped off about a 36-year-old man named Brad Spafford who was stockpiling weapons and ammunitions. Spafford, who blew off three of his fingers in 2021 after a homemade bomb exploded in his right hand, allegedly was in possession of a short-barreled rifle. An informant told the FBI that Spafford was using pictures of President Joe Biden as target practice, the government wrote in a memorandum of support to keep Spafford behind bars.
Upon a search of his farm in Isle of Wight County, agents allegedly found the 150 pipe bombs, some of which were marked “lethal,” in Spafford’s bedroom and a detached garage. They also found tools and materials such as homemade fuses and pieces of PVC pipe in the garage, court documents say. The freezer held a jar containing a material called HMTD, which the document describes as “so unstable it can be exploded merely” from temperature changes. The jar, marked with labels reading: “Dangerous” and “Do not touch,” was located among food items, federal authorities said.
Children had access to this freezer, according to the FBI.
The FBI informant also said Spafford has “expressed support” for political assassinations and violence, according to authorities. Several weeks after the assassination attempt of then presidential candidate Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, the defenant allegedly lamented that he “hoped the shooter doesn’t miss ‘Kamala.””
This past fall, Spafford moved into the 20-acre farm, which is outside Norfolk.
The informant went to the farm wearing a wire in October, authorities say. Spafford, at some point, then allegedly admitted to possessing the short-barrel rifle, saying it wasn’t registered it because “he does not believe in registration.” The defendant also allegedly said he was planning on fortifying his property by placing a 50-caliber firearm on the rifle that could spin 360 degrees so he could should anyone he deemed an intruder.
After Spaffer allegedly told the informant about the extremely explosive material in the garage freezer, the FBI obtained a search warrant for the property which led to his arrest.
Agents determined some of devices were “too unstable to transport and maintain” so bomb technicians exploded them on site. Others were confiscated and taken back to the lab for testing including one “capable of causing property damage, personal injury, and/or death,” agents wrote. Spafford also allegedly had bomb-making “recipes” handwritten in notebooks.
The government has charged Spafford with one count of possession of a firearm in violation of the National Firearms Act. Spafford should remain behind bars ahead of his trial, the Department of Justice argued in the court document.
A section of that document elaborates:
The defendant has the undisputed know-how, resources, and extreme inclination to manufacture and stockpile improvised explosive devices. Even after losing his own fingers as a result of his homemade explosive materials, he made the apparent remarkable decision to keep an extraordinarily dangerous explosive material in the home’s freezer next to food items that could be accessed by the entire family. And while he is not known to have engaged in any apparent violence, he has certainly expressed interest in the same, through his manufacture of pipe bombs marked ‘lethal,’ his possession of riot gear and a vest loaded with pipe bombs, his support for political assassinations and use of the pictures of the President for target practice, and his belief that ‘no lives matter.’
Spafford’s attorney argued his client should be released because he never intended to carry out any crimes. He remains behind bars after a judge found probable cause for his arrest.
