A Gaithersburg man who blew a hole through his own house with a homemade pipe bomb has been sentenced to 54 years in prison, with all but 25 years suspended, followed by five years of supervised probation once he's released. Robert Stojinski Jr., 43, suffered shrapnel injuries to his hand and eye when the device detonated inside his home in October 2025, and the blast ultimately led investigators to a second live bomb and a stash of untraceable firearms hidden inside the residence.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Bradford McCullough handed down the sentence on August 10, according to The MoCo Show. Stojinski pleaded guilty in April to four counts: possession of explosive material with intent to create a destructive device, manufacturing a destructive device, and two counts of possessing a firearm without a serial number, the outlet reported. The guilty plea spared him a trial on the explosives and ghost gun charges.
The explosion tore through Stojinski's home in the 24000 block of Empress Court, blasting a hole through the floor between the second-floor hallway and the first-floor ceiling and scattering metal pipe shrapnel throughout the residence, according to Daily Voice. Montgomery County firefighters were called to the home after reports of an explosion, and according to FOX 5 DC, police later found another bomb inside the house along with multiple ghost guns and ghost gun components.
A Hammer Strike and a Trip to Shock Trauma
When emergency responders arrived, a visibly injured Stojinski was home alone. He told firefighters he had caused an explosion, then said, “I'd like to plead the fifth,” before being taken to the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, the same account details. FOX 5 DC reports Stojinski activated the bomb by hitting it with a hammer, and he made the device using fireworks, a metal tube and an electric initiator.
While hospitalized, Stojinski confessed to federal ATF agents that he had extracted powder from commercial fireworks, packed it into a metal tube fitted with an electric initiator, and struck the tube with a hammer, causing it to detonate, per the same report. The investigation into the blast and the weapons cache was handled jointly by the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, the Montgomery County Police Department, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Prosecutors Cited a History of Threats
Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said Stojinski had a history of threatening to commit violence, according to FOX 5 DC's reporting, and thanked the judge for the sentencing decision. Under Maryland Criminal Law Code § 4-503, manufacturing or possessing a destructive device is a felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 per count, a maximum that helped shape the exposure Stojinski faced at sentencing.
The ghost guns found in his home fell under a separate Maryland law. Under Maryland Public Safety § 5-703, enacted in 2022, it is illegal to purchase, sell, transfer or possess an unserialized firearm or unfinished frame or receiver unless it has been registered and imprinted with an authorized serial number, according to the Maryland Department of State Police. Full compliance enforcement for that requirement took effect statewide in March 2023.
Part of a Bigger Ghost Gun Crackdown
The case lands amid a broader push by Montgomery County officials to get illegal firearms off the streets. Montgomery County law enforcement seized more than 3,000 firearms between 2023 and 2025 while responding to over 600 shooting incidents, according to the Maryland Daily Record. That volume led County Executive Marc Elrich to sign updated legislation, Expedited Bill 23-26E, in July targeting illegal gun possession and ghost guns following state Supreme Court rulings.
Stojinski's case also fits a pattern of home-based bomb-making investigations across Maryland this year. In April, Anne Arundel County fire investigators arrested an Annapolis man on 32 felony counts of manufacturing destructive devices after seizing dozens of suspected explosives from his home, a case Hoodline covered at the time. Together, the two cases point to heightened vigilance from county fire bomb squads statewide as authorities lean on both explosives and ghost-gun laws to remove dangerous individuals from residential neighborhoods.
