Magistrate Denies Bail for Suspect in IED Case

By Sam Thrift Thursday, January 26, 2012

A 36-year-old sailor arrested New Year’s Eve for manufacturing and possessing an explosive device in the Season's Trace subdivision in James City County was painted as a person with significant mental health issues in Federal Court on Jan. 19, according to court documents.

Joseph Robert Yengel was denied bail after a U.S. Magistrate Judge Tommy Miller found that there was “clear and convincing” evidence that Yengel was in possession of a pipe bomb and had the supplies to make more. According to the order by the magistrate, the court found the suspect as a danger to the community because of “the nature of the charges and his actions and words.”

The magistrate’s Jan. 20 order said the evidence presented Yengel as “a person with significant mental health issues.” It went on to describe testimony that indicated the U.S. Navy had placed Yengel in a drug treatment program for abusing painkillers. Yengel had obtained the drugs, the court reported, by seeing 11 different medical providers and going to five different pharmacies.

Yengel’s supervisor in the Navy testified that in addition to his drug problems, the defendant had made threatening statements to coworkers who are now concerned about their safety, according to the order by the magistrate.

Yengel first came on the James City County Police Department’s radar on Dec. 31 when officers responded to a domestic assault call at suspect’s house, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The victim said she was assaulted at her home by her husband, Yengel, and advised the officers that there were a large number of firearms and “military grenades” in the house.

The James City County Fire Marshal’s Office and a explosive ordnance disposal unit from the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station assisted the police at Yengel’s home, located at 845 Vail Ridge, because of the suspected presence of military ordnance, according to a press release.

The suspect’s wife directed officers and fire marshals to an upstairs bedroom closet, secured with a combination lock, where Yengel kept the weapons, according to the affidavit. The Navy personnel and fire marshals discovered bomb making material and one partially completed improvised explosive device.

The bomb making material consisted of smokeless gunpowder, military heat tablets, copper wire and multiple pieces of approximately 6-inch long by ½-inch in diameter iron pipe with end caps.

The partially completed IED consisted of a similar iron pipe with end caps, a kitchen timer and wiring. There was no explosive filler in the device and no power source. According to a press release, the addition of a battery and explosive filler, both of which were recovered at Yengel’s home, would have completed the IED.

Yengel is currently being held without bond. According to the affidavit, the defendant was evicted from his house and his wife and children have left the area.