A federal judge set a $25,000 bond for an Isle of Wight County man facing a federal weapons charge in connection with a Dec. 18 FBI raid at his Foursquare Road home that the case prosecutor called the largest seizure of homemade explosives in FBI history.

Judge Lawrence Leonard agreed on Dec. 30 to release 36-year-old Brad Kenneth Spafford, who had been held at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk since his Dec. 17 arrest, into the custody of his mother, conditioned on his wearing an electronic monitoring device and surrendering his passport. He will be restricted to his mother’s house when not traveling to and from work, medical services, meetings with his attorneys or religious services. The judge agreed to stay his order pending the government’s appeal.

According to a criminal complaint and supporting documents, Spafford is charged with possessing a short barrel rifle, which federal law defines as less than 16 inches long and illegal unless registered with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

During the nearly two-hour bond hearing in Norfolk, a federal prosecutor painted Spafford as an anti-government extremist who, according to an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint against him, was stockpiling weapons and homemade ammunition, including the short barrel rifle, for “something that Spafford would not be able to do alone.”

Detective Rachelanne Cardwell, a Suffolk police officer and member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, testified that agents who searched Spafford’s home found over 150 homemade explosive devices. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Gant called it the largest seizure of homemade explosives in FBI history.

Some were non-lethal training devices but many were live explosives.

Spafford allegedly told a confidential informant, whom Cardwell testified Spafford had known to be a local police officer and neighbor, that he owns an unregistered 10-inch barrel rifle and makes approximately 50 rounds of ammunition per day. Spafford allegedly told the informant he’d moved many hundred-pound boxes of ammunition to the Foursquare Road residence “but he does not have 10,000 rounds yet,” according to the affidavit.

Cardwell testified that Spafford, in conversations with the informant, allegedly expressed a desire to “bring back political assassination” and had been using a photograph of President Joe Biden for target practice at a shooting range where he was pursuing a 300- to 400-yard sniper qualification. Following the July assassination attempt on President-elect Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Spafford allegedly remarked to the informant, “Bro, I hope they don’t miss (Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate) Kamala (Harris),” Cardwell said.

Cardwell testified that FBI agents found multiple canisters in a freezer in Spafford’s garage containing HMTD, which she described as a type of homemade explosive using common household chemicals. They also allegedly found powders, metals and components of PVC pipe bombs, including an explosive powder Cardwell referred to as ETN.

The affidavit further alleges Spafford to have lost several fingers to a homemade explosive device on July 4, 2021, though Spafford presently isn’t charged with bomb-making.

When Larry Woodward, the attorney representing Spafford, questioned Cardwell, she acknowledged she had no knowledge of Spafford’s having made any specific threats against any person or organization. She did, however, mention a journal FBI agents had found in Spafford’s residence containing recipes and inventory, including a recipe for homemade C-4, a military-grade explosive that requires a license for civilian use.

Woodward, during his questioning of Cardwell, established that the informant did not personally witness Spafford building or detonating any explosive devices, and painted his client as merely disliking the Internal Revenue Service and believing in federal government overreach.

Leonard cited among his reasons for granting Spafford bond that the only offense charged to date was his alleged possession of the short barrel rifle, and that Gant hadn’t argued the suspect poses a flight risk. 

Spafford faces up to 10 years on the short barrel rifle charge. Gant said there were “numerous potential additional charges” that could be filed, each of which could carry an additional 10-year sentence if Spafford is convicted.

Per the terms of his release, Spafford is to not possess any firearms or destructive devices.

Sue Devito, who lives within a half-mile of Spafford’s Foursquare Road residence, told The Smithfield Times she heard “five or six different explosions” between noon and 5:30 p.m., on Dec. 18.

“We knew probably around noon we heard a bang, but it could have been any number of things. … I’m wondering (if) it was just ammunition that they were blowing up,” Devito said.

She received a call from her son around 4:30 p.m. informing her that neighborhood watch groups on Facebook were reporting an incident at Spafford’s house, and she drove to the site to see what was going on.

There she saw what she described as a bomb truck, a Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department vehicle and multiple police cars.

Cardwell testified that the bomb squad had safely detonated most of the explosives, save for nine kept for evidence.

Spafford graduated from Isle of Wight Academy in 2006. He’d formed a limited liability company, Wandering Woods Ranch LLC, at his home address on Dec. 11, a week before his arrest, according to state corporation commission records.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:36 p.m. on Dec. 30.