Sheriff Sam Craft of the Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office has announced the April 14, 2017 arrest of Ryan Keith Taylor, 23, of Fort Polk following an incident involving a chemical in New Llano.

The arrest is the result of an incident which initially began on April 12, 2017 in an area deemed as an L.U.A. (Limited Use Access Area) of the Fort Polk Army Installation.

The Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the FBI and advised that an incident had taken place at the area involving some type of chemical. Emergency Personnel responding to the area did begin to suffer from some type of chemical exposure and were treated at Bayne Jones Army Hospital on Fort Polk.

Ryan Keith Taylor was identified as the person responsible for the incident and he was detained by Army Officials. It was later learned that Taylor resided in New Llano and a search warrant was prepared for his residence.

As a precautionary measure residents of the Mona Lisa Apartment Complex and the immediate area surrounding the apartments were evacuated.

A Hazardous Material Team from the Louisiana State Police conducted a search of Taylor’s apartment and did find suspicious devices and ordinances within the residence.

One improvised explosive device was deactivated by the Haz Mat Team and the other items were collected into evidence.

Ryan Keith Taylor was escorted to VPSO by Agents with the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command.

Taylor was arrested and charged with two counts of Bomb Making and two counts of Fake Explosive Devices. Bond was set at $ 1.5 millon dollars by 30th JDC Judge C. Anthony Eaves. Taylor remains in the VPSO jail.

The investigation into this matter is ongoing.