A 40-year-old Ketchikan man was sentenced Tuesday in connection with a 2014 explosion inside the Ketchikan Tunnel.
Joseph Duane Brown admitted that he assembled and linked together “at least 20″ one-pound explosive devices that went off inside the Ketchikan Tunnel, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. The “seal bombing” incident happened July 4, 2014, the Associated Press reports. Brown also admitted to setting off the series of devices in the tunnel.
“The explosions temporarily knocked out the central communications records management system for the KPD dispatch center, as well as scared the driver of a vehicle who drove through the tunnel, as their vehicle was ‘rattled’ during the explosion,” the release says. “The driver stated that the explosion was not a mere firework, but something ‘super dangerous.’”
Investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATFE) and the Ketchikan Police Department determined that Brown, a convicted felon, used perchlorate explosive mixture (known as seal bombs) as a detonator to set off the one-pound charges of cap sensitive ammonium nitrate mixture (binary explosive mixture), typically used in exploding targets.
For receipt and possession of explosive materials by a felon, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy M. Burgess sentenced Brown to five years probation, 30 days in a halfway house and 300 hours of community work service.