A high school security officer in a small central California town has pled guilty to making homemade explosives with a teenage student and selling them online. Yeesh!!
Angelo Jackson Mendiver, 27, was arrested months ago in a case brought by FBI agents. On Monday, according to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of California, Mendiver pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges including conspiring to engage in manufacturing and dealing in explosive materials, mailing explosive devices, and making false statements to FBI agents.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, Mendiver was a school security resource officer at Arvin High School just south of the city of Bakersfield. He and a Bakersfield-area high school student — who is a juvenile, and was not named — worked together to manufacture and sell homemade explosives. Per the release, the two were accused of using Instagram to find customers, shipping the devices across state lines.
The release states authorities first wrangled Mendiver back in June, after they served a search warrant on his home and came across hundreds of pounds of explosive materials:
“On June 1, 2023, a federal search warrant executed at Mendiver’s residence resulted in the seizure of approximately 500 pounds of explosives and explosive materials. Agents seized another 500 pounds of explosives and explosive materials from the juvenile’s residence. At both residences, agents found other items used to make explosives.”
Wow…
Authorities zeroed in on Mendiver’s social media presence, too. In one Instagram message the now-former school resource officer sent to the teenager, a photo of an explosive device known as a “titanium salute” can be seen with the message that the “homemade kills all consumer.” Creepy…
Now, Mendiver faces up to five years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 fine for each count. His sentencing hearing will occur on April 1, 2024.
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