Man Sentenced to Prison for Williamsburg Bombing Plot

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Gloucester County man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for possession of unregistered explosive devices and making a false material statement to federal agents.

“Thanks to the professionalism, bravery, and collaboration of federal, state, and local law enforcement, Powers was brought to justice and will now pay the price for his cowardly criminal acts,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Thankfully, he will now be in a place where his apparent desire to hurt innocent individuals will be nearly impossible.”

According to witness testimony and court documents, Stephen Powers, 31, was a maintenance employee of Colonial Williamsburg. While in that role he began to work on what would ultimately be the creation of four explosive devices or pipe bombs. In October 2017, Powers took one of the explosive devices to an area in the commercial area of Colonial Williamsburg. The area was particularly busy given the Homecoming events associated with the College of William and Mary. Powers connected one of these devices to an outlet. The outlet was programed to receive electrical current at 5:00pm each evening so that decorative lights would activate in the shopping area. When the outlet activated, the explosive device ignited and exploded. This explosion sent large fragments of metal in several directions, landing as far away as 200 feet. The force of the explosion was sufficient to cause significant injury or death if any individuals had been struck by the fragments.

“We should all feel extremely fortunate this individual’s recklessness and brazen indifference for human life did not result in someone being killed or seriously injured,” said Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division.  So long as there are criminals out there whose aim is to disrupt the peace in our communities, ATF will continue to advance its mission to combat violent crime.  I am proud of the outstanding investigative work done by the ATF Norfolk Office and those investigators with the Williamsburg Police Department, the Virginia State Bomb Squad and the FBI, who quickly identified and brought this individual to justice.”

When Powers was identified as a suspect and interviewed by Special Agents from ATF and FBI, Powers made multiple false material statements, including claims of military service and that his credit card, which was used to purchase bomb components had been stolen from him. 

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division, and Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric M. Hurt and Robert E. Bradenham prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:18-cr-37.