Thu 11 Oct 2007 16:05
HOUSTON — The survivor of a deadly explosion at a Texas City apartment building has been indicted on three federal charges related to making bombs.
Curtis Lee Jetton, 22, appeared in Galveston federal court Wednesday on counts of conspiring to make and possess unregistered destructive devices, possessing an unregistered destructive device and unlawful storage of the explosive material triacetone triperoxide, or TATP.
Jetton’s roommate, Matthew Robert Rugo, 21, died when bomb-making materials exploded in their apartment in July 2006. Officials have said Rugo was studying biochemistry at a community college in Texas City and the apartment was leased in his mother’s name.
The indictment against Jetton, of La Marque, was returned two weeks ago, part of a winding series of legal actions since the explosion.
Two days after the blast, prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Jetton, but one month later the government asked to have the case dismissed in order to investigate further.
In April, prosecutors filed a criminal information, which is not based on a grand jury indictment. In May, Jetton backed out of a deal to plead guilty.
The indictment accuses Jetton of conspiring with Rugo to build bombs using TATP. The duo learned about the material on the Internet. Jetton allegedly provided metal shavings from his work to use in an explosive mix that they placed in pipes, beer bottles and sandwich bags. The makeshift bombs were detonated in fields and under vehicles, the indictment says.
The indictment also links Jetton and Rugo to an anarchist group called the Glass Desert Underground, although it doesn’t say whether they were targeting anything.
After the deadly blast, authorities evacuated the 304-unit complex and detonated homemade explosives inside Rugo’s apartment. FBI officials said at the time that they were forced to detonate the material inside the apartment because it was too unstable to move.