Man charged with possession of explosive device

David Kihara

Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005 | 9:58 a.m.

Prosecutors are charging a suspected 34-year-old alleged white supremacist with possession of a homemade explosive device but will not charge the 22-year-old man who was riding with him, Clark County District Attorney David Roger said.

Prosecutors are charging David Eric Jones with possession of an explosive device after Metro Police found a gunpowder-filled 5-inch-long cylinder in the Chevrolet Blazer he was driving on Friday.

The district attorneys office, however, will not file charges against 22-year-old Darrell Cooper, because Cooper, who was riding in the vehicle with Jones, probably didn't know the explosive device was in the Blazer, Roger said.

"There is no evidence showing that Cooper knew the explosive device was in the vehicle," Roger said.

Cooper also told police he is a white supremacist and a member of the "Outlaw Nazi skin heads," according to a Metro arrest report.

Jones told police the explosive device was an M-1000, "like a(n) M-80," and that it was essentially a film canister filled with black powder, according to the Metro report. It also said Jones told police that he wasn't planning on using the device to hurt anyone.

"Jones said he made the device for the Fourth of July and didn't get a chance to take it out of his truck," the report stated.

Donna Wulf, Jones' grandmother, said he had been living with her in Henderson for about a year. She said he came from California and has been working a construction job in Las Vegas. Jones was living with her partly because he couldn't afford to live on his own, she said.

Wulf, said she had no knowledge of any explosives and Jones never discussed race with her.

"I had no idea at all -- I was surprised to hear about this," she said on Monday. "He never talked about race. Not to me he didn't."

According to the police report, Jones told a Metro sergeant that "he was a white supremacist."

Cooper denied any knowledge of the explosive device, according to the report. Although he declined an interview with the Sun while he was in the detention center, he told KLAS Channel 8 that he didn't know the explosive device was in the vehicle.

He also said the explosive had nothing to do with any hate crimes," Channel 8 reported.

"I am skinhead ... I am not an active one anymore," he told Channel 8.

Metro Police arrested Jones and Cooper on Friday around 5 p.m. on Cheyenne Avenue and Marion Street because the Blazer that Jones was driving had expired plates, Metro said.

After Jones consented to a search, Metro found a black handle baton and the explosive device, which was described by police as 5 inches long and 2 inches in diameter and wrapped in duct tape.

After the arrest, Jones told police that he manufactured the improvised explosive device in June or July from fireworks he purchased, according to the report. He said the device was easy to make and he had no prior experience in making explosives.

Jones, who told police he and Cooper were driving to meet with Cooper's lawyer when they were pulled over on Friday, also admitted that he had been smoking marijuana in the vehicle earlier and was looking for somewhere to get a drink of water because he had "cotton mouth," the report stated.