Failed fertilizer bomber gets 55 days

EPHRATA — A Moses Lake man accused of stealing materials to create a fertilizer bomb pleaded guilty Wednesday to second degree-burglary and attempted threats to bomb or injure property.

With no prior criminal history, Ryan Palmer, 39, was given a reduced sentence of 55 days in county jail and 12 months of community custody. Palmer will also have to undergo treatment for mental health and substance abuse, and is barred from going within 30 feet of Nutrien AG Solutions, the company from which Palmer stole the bomb materials.

Palmer was initially stopped by a deputy with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office who recognized Palmer was driving with a suspended license. During the traffic stop, Palmer warned the deputy not to attempt to move his BMW and indicated there were explosive materials inside.

In an interview with deputies, Palmer admitted to stealing fertilizer, diesel, magnesium and other materials over an extended period of time from fertilizer retailer Nutrien AG Solutions to create an explosive device. Palmer advised deputies he had worked for Nutrien AG Solutions as a chemical driver until 2015, and said he blamed the fertilizer company for his daughter’s birth defects.

Palmer told deputies that he did not plan to detonate the device, but rather intended to “prove a point” about the company’s lax security.

“Ryan stated he has frequently gone to Nutrien and just simply walked all over the plant with no one confronting him,” a report on the interview said. “Ryan did this over 20 times to prove how easy it would be for someone that knew how to build a fertilizer bomb to blow up the facility.”

Palmer told deputies that he planned to drive the materials through the Moses Lake facility, then drive to a facility in Tri-Cities and inform management there of what he had been able to accomplish.

Even if Palmer had intended to detonate the bomb, he would not have been able to. An investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found that the device was not fully constructed and Palmer could not have detonated it, said Kyle Foreman, public information officer for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. Additionally, the fertilizer stolen by Palmer was not the correct type to manufacture an explosive device.

Additional precursor materials for the manufacture of a fertilizer bomb were found Jan. 2 by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol bomb squad in Palmer’s residence, according to a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office. No fully-formed explosive was found on the premises. Family members of Palmer’s have indicated his mental health and judgment may have been affected by drug addiction.