BIRMINGHAM - A federal grand jury today indicted a Birmingham man in connection to destructive devices found at his home in August 2009, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and ATF Special Agent in Charge Glenn Anderson.

A two-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges MARLON CHRISTOPHER SIMMONS, 36, possessed two destructive devices, a USAS-12 12-gauge shotgun and a pipe bomb, that were not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. The USAS shotgun is considered a destructive device under federal law because the bore diameter of its barrel is larger than ½ inch, and it is classified as a weapon without a sporting purpose. The indictment also charges SIMMONS with illegally making a pipe bomb.

“Building and possessing home-made bombs is unacceptably dangerous,” Vance said. “These devices maim and kill, and those who build and possess them threaten the safety of our community.”

Police found the destructive devices at SIMMONS’ east Birmingham home on Aug. 10, 2009. Birmingham Police obtained a warrant to search the home after a call to police, in which a man threatened to kill several Birmingham officers, was traced to SIMMONS’ cell phone, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit in the case.
 
The maximum sentence for the possession of non-registered destructive devices and making a destructive device is 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Birmingham Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney William R. Chambers is prosecuting it.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only charges.  A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

 

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