Ron Wilkins

Journal & Courier

COVINGTON, Ind. — Self-described "doomsday prepper" Robert W. Bandy II built two homemade explosives for defense when the modern world ends, according to police.

Bandy filled small CO2 cylinders with material from fireworks, capped with a fuse and glued closed, he told police, according to a probable cause affidavit. Outside the cylinders, Bandy taped screws and nails to the devices, which he learned to make from the internet, according to the affidavit.

Bandy told police he made them several months ago, and forgot about them until a recent move, according to the affidavit.

"I just put them in my grandmother's van until I could figure out what to do with them," Bandy told police Friday afternoon during an interview at the Fountain County Jail, according to the affidavit. "There's no intention in hurting anyone with them."

Bandy set off one of the three devices he made a few months ago, but it fizzled, according to the affidavit.

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Indiana State Police bomb squad detonated the two explosive devices found Friday. One of the devices exploded; the other just burned, according to the affidavit.

Police arrested 28-year-old Bandy outside of his grandmother's Attica apartment on Edgewood Drive on Friday morning. Montgomery County probation officers discovered the devices while checking up on Bandy, who frequently stays at his grandmother's home, according to a probable cause affidavit that accompanied four felony charges.

Those charges are possession of a destructive device, manufacturing of a destructive device, transporting a destructing device and manufacturing a hoax device.

The explosives, which state police said could do "a lot of damage," were inside a camouflage military vest with pockets, according to the affidavit. That vest was in the backseat area of his grandmother's van. In the front seat, police found a bulletproof vest. Bandy said he bought the ballistic vest a couple years ago from a friend.

"I used to work at a gas station, and sometimes I would wear it to work," Bandy told police, according to the affidavit.

Inside the van, police found electronic transistors, nails, small electric motors and electric components such as push-button switches, according to the affidavit.

Bandy told police he liked to tinker with electronic devices and liked to "take things apart to see how they work," according to the affidavit.

"I have a very high IQ and can talk to you about physics all day. I'm just common sense dumb," the affidavit quoted Bandy as saying.

Bandy is slated for a Sept. 6 trial in Fountain Circuit Court.

Reach Journal & Courier reporter Ron Wilkins at 765-420-5231.