Crime & Courts

Ketchikan man gets probation for possessing explosives set off inside tunnel

Federal prosecutors say a 40-year-old man who set off a series of small bombs in the Ketchikan Tunnel on Independence Day 2013 has been sentenced to five years probation for obtaining and possessing explosive materials as a felon.

Joseph Duane Brown was also sentenced to a month of confinement at a halfway house and 300 hours of community service, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Schmidt said the charges against Brown resulted from a Ketchikan Police Department investigation into the July 4 explosion in the tunnel.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms later determined the detonated explosives included seal bombs and "binary explosive mixture(s)," prosecutors said.

Brown assembled at least 20 1-pound explosive devices "and daisy chained them together with a common fuse," Schmidt said. Brown used the seal bombs as a detonator to set off the binary explosive mixture charges, Schmidt said.

Brown has consistently told law enforcement the detonation was a prank, the prosecutor said. In previous years, Brown set off fireworks in the tunnel, which eventually escalated to the bombs, he said.

The explosions temporarily disabled a data management system used by police department dispatchers, and a cab was "rattled" as it drove through the tunnel. The driver said the explosion was far more powerful and dangerous than a firework, prosecutors said.

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The explosions did not cause physical damage to the tunnel, Schmidt said.

According to a plea agreement filed in September, Brown told multiple people what he intended to do before he detonated the devices. Afterward, he admitted to others, including law enforcement, he was responsible for the explosion, the plea says.

Brown bought some of the materials needed to assemble the small bombs at a local store. Schmidt said the prosecution is unsure how Brown obtained the seal bombs.

According to documents, Brown was convicted in the 1990s of drug, theft and burglary charges.

Schmidt said Brown did not intend to damage property and the criminal offense charged was appropriate.

The Federal Public Defender's Agency did not immediately return a request for comment.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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