Felon Charged With Making Pipe Bombs for Profit

SANTA ANA — A reputed white supremacist facing federal charges of possessing explosive devices told federal agents that he built pipe bombs to sell for a profit, according to an affidavit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court.

Convicted felon Eric Lord Jeffrey, 21, of Santa Ana, also has a penchant for collecting white supremacy and satanic worship items, ranging from satanic bibles and pornographic comic books to black dolls with nooses dangling around their necks, according to the court document that identified Jeffrey as an associate member of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang.

The affidavit was denounced by Jeffrey’s defense attorney as containing “irrelevant, racially charged nonsense,” but it is a foundation for an ongoing investigation into claims that Jeffrey may have already used one of the deadly devices in a hate crime against an African-American family.

“There are allegations of actual uses of the bombs and there is an ongoing investigation,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Shapiro, who declined to discuss the case in detail. “We’re obviously interested in what he was going to do with the bombs.”

Jeffrey was arrested at his home Wednesday in Santa Ana.

Agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Santa Ana police, acting on a tip, discovered 14 homemade pipe bombs in Jeffrey’s bedroom.

ATF agent John D’Angelo said Thursday that investigators “have definitely ruled out” any connection between Jeffrey and the white supremacists arrested last week in connection with an alleged plot to ignite a race war in Southern California with attacks on high-profile minorities, including Rodney G. King.

“We believe he was making them (bombs) for profit,” D’Angelo said.

Jeffrey sat quietly in court Thursday, his eyes cast downward. U.S. District Judge Ronald W. Rose ordered Jeffrey held without bail after concluding that he is both a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Jeffrey also appears to be in violation of his parole from a May, 1991, conviction in Fresno for vehicle theft and drunk driving, according to state and federal authorities.

The affidavit includes allegations that Jeffrey bragged about setting off a bomb in Centennial Park on July 4 to test the device. During Wednesday’s arrest, authorities also received a tip that “Jeffrey had set off a pipe bomb in the yard of black family in the area,” according to the affidavit. It could not immediately be verified whether those bombings took place.