State charges dismissed in criminal case involving pipe bomb at Marissa trailer park
The state charges that had been filed against a 49-year-old Marissa man after authorities say they found a pipe bomb in a trailer park were dismissed on Friday because he faces federal charges for the same incident.
On April 29, local law enforcement, Scott Air Force Base’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, a state bomb squad and the FBI responded to the South Marissa Trailer Park to close roads, evacuate trailers and neutralize the explosive device.
The device did not detonate and no one was injured, according to authorities.
Jim F. Lanier was arrested May 1 and charged in both St. Clair County and federal court with the following offenses:
Unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device in U.S. Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
Three counts of possession of an explosive or incendiary device in St. Clair County Circuit Court.
St. Clair County Circuit Judge Robert Haida granted the state’s attorney’s request to dismiss the state charges without prejudice, which means the prosecutor can refile them later.
An FBI affidavit in the federal case accuses Lanier of telling authorities that he built a bomb and brought it to the trailer park to blow up his wife’s car but instead lit the device and threw it at three people who confronted him with knives.
Lanier was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 16. A jury trial is scheduled for July 25.
Unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
