Fourteen homemade bombs were recovered by the Pulaski County sheriff’s office after the arrest of James Patrick Huff in the 18000 block of Amazon Lane on Monday. Two other bombs discovered last week at an Ironton Road home have also been traced to Huff.

A 47-year-old man faces numerous felony charges after authorities said they found 14 pipe bombs in the yard of his Pulaski County home on Monday and two other bombs at his ex-girlfriend's address last week.

Authorities booked James Patrick Huff into the Pulaski County jail about 12:55 p.m. Monday. He was arrested on 16 counts of criminal use of prohibited weapons and a single count of possession of firearms by certain persons.

Speaking with authorities, Huff said he had bombs buried at his home in south Pulaski County, located at 18214 Amazon Lane, according to an arrest report.

The sheriff's office said authorities found 14 pipe bombs in a container buried in the yard. Lt. Cody Burk, a spokesman for the Pulaski County sheriff's office, said the bombs appeared to be homemade.

"It's really rare that we come across any type of pipe bombs," he said.

Another report shows authorities also linked Huff to an incident on May 1, in which two pipe bombs were found at 16825 Ironton Road, the address for his ex-girlfriend.

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Photos by the Pulaski County sheriff's office

According to a report, Huff admitted to "possessing" the two bombs.

In the May 1 incident, Huff's ex-girlfriend, Angella Poole, reported to deputies that Huff had threatened and harassed her for the past several days, a report said. Earlier that morning, Poole received a call from her landlord saying he had found a "stick of dynamite" near her Ironton Road residence, according to the report.

The deputies then went to the address and met with the landlord, who was sitting in his truck outside Poole's residence.

The landlord told authorities he had a "possible stick of dynamite in [his] front seat," the report says.

The deputies saw the object and secured the scene. Agents from a variety of agencies then arrived on scene, including personnel from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Little Rock Fire Department bomb squad and the Arkansas State Police, authorities said.

Gene Self, who lives in one of a cluster of mobile homes near Poole's home, said the day before police came to the neighborhood he and the landlord were standing outside talking when a young boy came over holding what he thought at the time was a firecracker.

"The fuse on it was just not normal," Self said. He took the object away from the boy and he and his girlfriend decided they should throw it away; they didn't know what to do with it, but didn't think a child should have it.

When police came by after a call from the landlord, they asked his girlfriend to get it, and she retrieved it from the garbage, Self said.

Edward Neal said he had gone out earlier on May 1 to buy more cigarettes, and saw Poole at her job. He said she was crying, and told him "My boyfriend is threatening to kill me."

On April 30, a day before authorities found the bombs at Poole's address, she reported to authorities that Huff had left her a threatening voice mail. According to Poole, the voice mail said "If you don't keep my name out of your mouth, I'll send you home to your daddy in a box," according to a report.

A woman who identified herself as Huff's mother said she believes her deceased husband built the bombs eight to 10 years ago amid fear that the U.S. would descend into martial law under President Barack Obama.

"I blame the government," she said during a 9-minute conversation in the driveway of the home she shared with her son. "That's who I blame. They come on TV with, 'Obama's going to do martial law and Obama's helping ISIS' and all this bulls**t. What's people to think? That was nationwide, forever."

She asked not to be identified by name.

Huff, whom she calls by his middle name, found the bombs while cleaning out the shed shortly after her husband, also named James Huff, passed away in December 2017 at 79 years old, she said. A wooden shed could be seen on the property's back edge, with an American flag hanging beside a boarded up window that faces away from the home. Her husband kept the shed locked all the time, she said.

"I asked him to destroy them," she said. "I didn't know anything else about them. I thought he did. That's all I know."

The senior Huff worked in plumbing for the Pulaski County School District for 38 years, she said. As a hobby, he repaired guns for people but that stopped after he had a stroke about four and a half year ago, she said.

Asked if her son should have informed police when finding the bombs, she said, "He should have gotten rid of them. Being hard-headed, he didn't."

While authorities identified Poole as Huff's ex-girlfriend, his mother said her son was married to Poole for about eight years. They divorced when their two children, 22 and 27 years old, were young. They remained in contact but constantly argued, she said.

"Neither one of them are real smart, I would say," she said. "It's a d**n mess. That's all I can say."

She hasn't seen her son in two to three days, she said.

"He evaded them for about four or five days, maybe a week," she said.

Authorities detonated the bombs inside a canister Monday on her property after asking her to leave the residence, she said. Authorities did not confirm that the bombs had been detonated, and Burk said that they had been dismantled and taken by ATF personnel.

Huff's mother said she was unaware the bombs had been buried in her back yard but has since learned that they were all in a single metal "artillery" canister.

"They were in an Army thing, a metal artillery thing," she said. "They couldn't have got out because I think those are pretty sturdy. They were pretty safe in there, I guess."

A Section on 05/08/2018