NORFOLK, Va. — A Virginia man pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a federal case that accuses him of stockpiling the largest number of finished explosives in FBI history and using President Joe Biden’s photo for target practice.
Chained at his legs and wearing an orange jumpsuit, Brad Spafford, 36, said little beyond answering mostly “yes” and “no” questions from a federal magistrate during his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.
The hearing focused mostly on setting a May 28 trial date, which is needed to give enough time to attorneys to review a vast trove of evidence.
Rebecca Gantt, a federal prosecutor, told a judge that authorities are still analyzing evidence from the FBI’s seizure of approximately 150 pipe bombs and other homemade devices at Spafford’s home in Isle of Wight County, which is northwest of Norfolk.
Most of the explosives were detonated on Spafford’s property, requiring soil analyses, while some devices were taken to a lab for examination, Gantt said. She added that investigators were still going through Spafford’s electronic devices, including a phone with 500,000 images on it, among other evidence.
Spafford faces one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of possession of an unregistered short barrel rifle. Both are felony charges punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
One of Spafford’s attorneys, Kenneth Woodward, mentioned to the judge that the National Firearms Act, under which Spafford is charged, does not define what is an explosive.
Woodward declined to comment after Wednesday’s hearing. But Spafford’s attorneys have questioned whether the explosive devices found on his property were usable because “professionally trained explosive technicians had to rig the devices to explode them.”
“There is not a shred of evidence in the record that Mr. Spafford ever threatened anyone and the contention that someone might be in danger because of their political views and comments is nonsensical,” his defense lawyers wrote in a court filing after his arrest.
The investigation into Spafford began in 2023 when an informant told authorities that Spafford was stockpiling weapons and ammunition, according to court documents. The informant, a friend and member of law enforcement, told authorities that Spafford was using pictures of the president for target practice and that “he believed political assassinations should be brought back,” prosecutors wrote.
Numerous law enforcement officers and bomb technicians searched the property on Dec. 17.
Spafford stored a highly unstable explosive material in a garage freezer next to “Hot Pockets and frozen corn on the cob,” according to court documents. Investigators also said they found explosive devices in an unsecured backpack labeled “#NoLivesMatter.”
Spafford’s attorneys had argued for his release as he awaits trial. But last week, a federal judge ruled he must stay in jail, writing that Spafford has “shown the capacity for extreme danger.”
U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen noted in her ruling that Spafford lost three fingers in an accident involving homemade explosives in 2021, something she said his defense attorneys have not disputed.
Defense attorneys had argued that that Spafford, who is married and a father of two young daughters, works a steady job as a machinist and has no criminal record.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Swartz said at Spafford’s detention hearing that investigators had gathered information on him since January 2023, during which Spafford never threatened anyone.
“And what has he done during those two years?” Swartz said. “He purchased a home. He’s raised his children. He’s in a great marriage. He has a fantastic job, and those things all still exist for him.”
Investigators, however, said they had limited knowledge of the homemade bombs until an informant visited Spafford’s home, federal prosecutors wrote in a filing.
“But once the defendant stated on a recorded wire that he had an unstable primary explosive in the freezer in October 2024, the government moved swiftly,” prosecutors wrote.