Stolen Army Explosives Not for Sale or Plot

Investigators are still trying to find out where a Fort Campbell Special Forces soldiers got military-grade explosives and what he planned to do with them. 100 pounds of C4 was discovered in his back yard Sunday afternoon.

Timothy Ryan Richards told ATF agents he buried the explosives himself as he led them to the rear of his 19-acre property. A pair of hunters initially found the weapons cache. Richards has not yet been charged for possession of the stolen explosives. ATF Special Agent Jim Cavanaugh says charges are coming.

“You know, he wasn’t trying to sell it. It was secreted on his property and but for hunters discovering it, we probably still wouldn’t know about it.”

The military uses C4 in blocks that weigh a little more than a pound. One block could destroy a car. 100 pounds would blow a crater in the ground.

Cavanaugh says he’s amazed more explosives aren’t smuggled out of a place the size of Fort Campbell. In an unrelated event, another Fort Campbell soldier was arrested last month after trying to sell grenades and an anti-tank rocket to undercover agents.

Timothy Richards remains in a Nashville jail awaiting a detention hearing Thursday morning. He’s been charged with illegal possession of two machine guns.

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