An area man has admitted to illegally transporting explosive materials, according to a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio.
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James River Phillips, 21, pleaded guilty to illegally transporting explosive materials on Wednesday.
As previously reported by News Center 7, Phillips was arrested by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force after investigations in Mason, Oxford, and Liberty Township.
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Federal court documents indicate that Lebanon police discovered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) around 12:30 a.m. in a parking garage of a large soccer complex on Sept. 22, 2024.
The Butler County Bomb Squad seized the live IED, which contained Nickel Hydrazine Nitrate (NHN) and Erythritol Tetranitrate (ETN), according to the spokesperson.
Federal investigators looked at cell phone data from the area and identified a phone that came back to Phillips.
Agents searched Phillip’s iCloud account and found videos that appeared to show him and another male counting to “one,” which is followed by a large explosion.
On Phillip’s iCloud account, agents allegedly found notes and recipes for IEDs, as well as photos from a shed.
Phillips’ sentencing date will be determined at a later time.
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