An 18-year-old Albuquerque man’s graduation gift to his former high school girlfriend was a real dud – a bomb that failed to explode under her bed, according to a report.
Ethan Guillen is accused of placing a pressure cooker full of “black energizeable material” under the young woman’s bed while she was at a graduation ceremony, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
The device contained a fuse wrapped around the tip of a soldering iron. The iron was connected to an appliance timer plugged into a wall, according to the paper.
The victim, identified in court papers as M.C., discovered the bomb on Wednesday, almost two weeks after it was planted.
Police evacuated her home temporarily before the device was found to be safe, police spokesman Daren DeAguero told the paper.
A federal agent said in the criminal complaint that the device met the federal definition of a “destructive device.”
The girl told authorities that her ex-boyfriend had harassed her at her high school, where she had been escorted to class because he would not leave her alone, according to the complaint.
A special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms said he met with Guillen at his home, where the teen denied he planted the device.
Guillen’s dad gave agents permission to search the premises and they found duct tape that matched tape found on the device, latex gloves and a table that had large burns on it, according to the complaint.
The father told the feds that he had recently bought a pressure cooker, but couldn’t find it or his soldering iron.
When Guillen was questioned again, he admitted he made the device using chemicals, a gasoline mixture, and nuts and bolts.
Guillen said that on May 18 he put the cooker in a backpack and went to the girl’s home when he knew no one would be home because it was graduation, according to the complaint.
He said he entered the home through a back door after climbing up a balcony. He said he plugged in the bomb under the girl’s bed and set the timer for 1:30 a.m., according to the complaint.
He said he then went home and listened to a police scanner all night, waiting to hear reports of an explosion, according to the complaint.
“When Guillen was told that the room next to M.C.’s had small children and a baby in it, Guillen stated that he knew and did not care,” the complaint states. “Guillen stated he just wanted M.C. dead.”
Guillen was charged with possessing a destructive device not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.