SANTA ANA : Bomb Maker Given 5-Year Prison Term

A reputed white supremacist was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for manufacturing pipe bombs in his home, reportedly to assault Latino and black drug dealers.

Eric Lord Jeffrey, 21, who was convicted in October of conspiracy to possess unlawful firearms, declined several invitations from U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor to stand up and speak in his own defense before he was sentenced.

“This whole thing swirls on, and the party that’s most affected by everything doesn’t say a word,” Taylor said.

Last July, federal agents acting on a tip raided Jeffrey’s house on the 1300 block of South Poplar Street in Santa Ana and seized 14 homemade devices. Agents also found materials believed connected to the white supremacy movement and satanic worship, according to federal court documents.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Leon Peterson told the court that his client’s motives for making explosives were misunderstood, but he didn’t elaborate.

Peterson said Jeffrey’s neighbors have stated he was known for having friends of various ethnic groups. “Their opinion of him is that he’s a fine person,” Peterson said.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephen G. Wolfe was satisfied with the sentence, saying “five years is a long time for a 21-year-old.”

Jeffrey has had past legal troubles, having violated his parole from a May, 1991, conviction in Fresno for vehicle theft and drunk driving, federal authorities said.

In that case, Jeffrey was sentenced to two years in prison and was released on parole in July, 1992, according to the state Department of Corrections. He returned to prison three months later for a parole violation, but resumed his parole in less than two months.

An informant told police about Jeffrey last July, court documents indicate, leading police to his home, where they reported finding 14 bombs made of metal pipes, gunpowder and pieces of cannon fuse in his bedroom.

Papers describing terrorist acts were in the room, according to an affidavit, and agents found other items including satanic bibles, pornographic satanic comic books and black dolls hanged by nooses and labeled “hang me.”

Jeffrey’s mother, Yvonne Jeffrey, has maintained that her son does not hate minorities and is himself part Latino and Native American. She has said that the swastika and the letters WP--an acronym for “white power”--tattooed on her son’s chest are only body art.