A June traffic stop in California led deputies to discover a massive trove of illegal weapons and bomb-making materials, including partially assembled improvised explosive devices, according to police.
On June 8, Riverside County sheriff’s deputies located a stolen vehicle in Temecula and conducted a traffic stop.
During the stop, they found four guns, a mixture of rifles and handguns, as well as a large amount of ammunition and suppressors, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
In addition to detaining driver Brandon Edwards, 38, of the city of Homeland, police continued to investigate, and a Wednesday search at the man’s property in an unincorporated area known as Romoland revealed even more weaponry, police say.
“Deputies found dozens of illegal firearms, ammunition, explosive-making materials, and homemade improvised devices that were in the process of being assembled,” according to the release. “The Riverside Sheriff’s Hazardous Device Team responded and seized the devices.”
Edwards faces 12 charges, including 11 felonies, on offenses related to the stolen vehicle, weapons possession, criminal threats, and bomb-making.
He is currently being held in the county’s Southwest Detention Center without bail, according to jail records.
It is unclear if Edwards has legal representation or how he plans to plead.
The Independent has contact the county public defender’s office and a family member of Edwards for comment.
The 38-year-old is due in court on July 25.
Last year, a heavily armed man was arrested outside a Donald Trump rally in the county, in what police described at the time as a thwarted assassination attempt.
The suspect in that case, Vem Miller, denied he was trying to assassinate the president and later sued the sheriff’s office for defamation.
