Todd Wheeler Jr., the Glen Burnie man accused of making bombs in his home, has been charged with a federal gun crime.
Wheeler was charged Monday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore with one count of possession of firearms by a prohibited person, according to federal court records.
Wheeler was prohibited from having firearms because he was "an unlawful user of and addicted to controlled substances," according to information in the charges. The document lists his firearms as a Walther model SP22 pistol, a Geco signal flare launcher and signal pistol insert, a Spikes tactical signal launcher and other devices.
No attorney is listed for Wheeler in court records and the Glen Burnie lawyer who is representing him in Anne Arundel County court cases could not be reached Wednesday.
Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which had been investigating Wheeler, declined to comment on the case.
Anne Arundel police and fire investigators were initially alerted to Wheeler's alleged bomb-making on New Year's Day when he was hospitalized with blast injuries from a homemade bomb, according to police.
Wheeler told investigators that he had previously set off five improvised explosive devices but the last one "blew off his pants," according to court documents.
Investigators searched Wheeler's home in the 900 block of Edgerly Road in the Harundale neighborhood and found a dozen homemade explosive devices made from cardboard tubes, ink pens, plastic containers, a metal container and a prescription bottle, according to court documents. Some of the devices were packed with foreign objects that could create projectiles "capable of seriously injuring or killing other people," according to court documents.
Investigators also found explosive chemicals stored in mason jars, an Argentina FMK submachine gun, bomb-making manuals and hundreds of needles scattered throughout the house, according to court documents.
Wheeler has been charged in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court on more than 20 charges including multiple counts of building and owning destructive devices. A trial is scheduled for June.
No court dates have been set on the federal charge.
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