Frederick Urban, a 76-year-old man from Chaparral, has been charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives after a tip-off led to the discovery of a vast arsenal at his Las Cruces residence. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Urban, who has a prior felony conviction, was presented in front of a federal judge on Monday and is currently detained pending a detention hearing date, which has yet to be scheduled.
The ATF, after receiving a tip from a concerned citizen on August 8, investigated allegations that Urban had been amassing weapons. As they confirmed the tip-off, ATF agents reviewed videos and photographs that the concerned citizen provided, showing several firearms within Urban's abode. According to the criminal complaint, with the support of local law enforcement, federal agents conducted a search warrant execution last Saturday at Urban's property.
The search executed at Urban's house was not a small operation, as it included members of ATF, New Mexico State Police, and the El Paso Police Department. They discovered "numerous firearms, approximately 100,000 rounds of ammunition, large capacity magazines, and gunpowder", as detailed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Moreover, the authorities found materials consistent with homemade bombs, such as homemade detonators, blasting caps, gunpowder, and a highly volatile explosive named triacetone triperoxide.
For the charges against him, Urban could face up to 15 years in prison. The Las Cruces Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with assistance from the New Mexico State Police, El Paso Police Department, and the FBI's El Paso Field Office, were in their investigation of this case. The U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez and Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Brendan Iber, announced the charges. Assistant United States Attorneys Ry Ellison and Mark Saltman are leading the prosecution.
