Records: Border militia member had ammonium nitrate, thousands of rounds of ammunition in hotel room

KC Massey, arrested on Federal gun violations. KC Massey, arrested on Federal gun violations. Photo: BOB OWEN, San Antonio Express-News Photo: BOB OWEN, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Records: Border militia member had ammonium nitrate, thousands of rounds of ammunition in hotel room 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

Federal agents found a box filled with what appeared to be ammonium nitrate — which can cause major explosions — along with firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition during a search of the hotel room of militia member Kevin Lyndel Massey.

Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who searched Massey's hotel room in Brownsville after an Oct. 20 arrest, found an AK-47 with six loaded magazines, a loaded handgun, a ballistic helmet and several cameras, as well as the ammunition box filled with suspected ammonium nitrate and fuel, according to court documents obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.

Ammonium nitrate can be a powerful explosive under certain circumstances: a stockpile of the substance at a fertilizer plant in West caused the deadly April 17 explosion that killed 15 people and injured more than 160 others. It's also the substance used by Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.

Massey was arrested in connection to an Aug. 29 incident during which a Border Patrol agent fired four shots at a man pointing a weapon at the agent near the Rio Grande while pursuing a group of immigrants east of Brownsville, according to documents from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville.

During the incident, agents seized a pistol from the man, identified as militia member John Frederick Foerster, and two firearms – a pistol and rifle – carried by Massey, who was in the vicinity with another militia member.

Foerster was arrested Oct. 21.

The court has ordered a psychiatric evaluation on Foerster.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Morgan set Massey's bond at $30,000 under several conditions, including that Massey and his wife remove all firearms and ammunition from their North Texas home.

Foerster and Massey have each committed prior felonies, which prohibits them from carrying firearms under federal law. Both have been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, a class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Massey was sentenced to five years in prison for felony burglary in Dallas County in 1988, court records show. That incident revoked his probation from an 1985 arrest of another burglary charge.

Foerster was arrested by Brownsville police Feb. 14, 2001, on three counts of burglarizing a building, a state jail felony punishable up to two years in prison, Texas Department of Public Safety records show. The offenses took place March 22, 1999, Feb. 13, 2001, and Feb. 14, 2001.

Foerster pleaded guilty to all three charges in May 2001 and served part of his sentence in Cameron County before being transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on Aug. 1, 2001.

He was released from prison Aug. 9, 2002, records show.

Prior to the 1999 arrest, Foerster was arrested on charges of possessing a switchblade and knuckles, a Class A misdemeanor punishable up to a year in prison. Foerster pleaded guilty to those charges and sentenced to 180 days in jail.

In 2009, Foerster was arrested in Missouri City on theft charges.

News researcher Julie Domel contributed to this report.

jfechter@express-news.net

Twitter: @JFreports