Brainerd Man Charged for Allegedly Making Pipe Bomb

Jonathan Durham
Credit: Crow Wing County Jail

A Brainerd man is facing one felony charge relating to his alleged manufacturing of a pipe bomb.

According to the criminal complaint, Johnathan Durham, 38, was arrested on Wednesday, December 28 after his ex-girlfriend reported finding suspicious items like drug paraphernalia and a possible pipe bomb, along with black powder and cut shotgun shells, in her apartment to law enforcement. The woman stated she found the items while cleaning her apartment.

Upon further investigation, the officer on the case learned Durham made a comment a couple weeks prior about making a pipe bomb. Durham allegedly told the woman that he was making a pipe bomb because “someone deserved it.”

The officer inspected the object when shown to him. In the complaint, the item is described as, “a section of a metal pipe with two metal caps, one which had a green fuse protruding from inside the device.” Around the apartment were also shotgun shells and other ammunition. The officer then called in the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Team for assistance.

After the responding team took the possible explosive away, they conducted an x-ray on it. The x-ray showed the device appeared to be live as it had black powder and shrapnel/fragments inside. The fragmentation reportedly looked consistent to contents inside a shotgun shell.

Law enforcement managed to locate and speak with Durham, who initially denied making the pipe bomb. The criminal complaint describes Durham as frantic, with him “fumbling over his words and eventually stated it wasn’t for anything.” He was supposedly “dinking around” before dissembling the device. Durham then reportedly took all the contents out of it about four months prior when showing his ex-girlfriend how to make the device while reminiscing about times with his grandfather. He told law enforcement he knew it was illegal to have the pipe bomb and never did anything else with it.

Durham was then placed under arrest by a deputy. On their way to the Crow Wing County Jail, Durham reportedly made a comment from the back of the police vehicle that he was “being framed and that must be why he was missing shotgun shells.”

Durham is currently facing one felony count of possession, manufacturing, transportation or storage of an incendiary/explosive device. The maximum sentence is 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

His next court appearance is January 17 at 11:30 a.m.