Rice County Man is Sentenced
in Connection to Threat to Blow up Courthouse
Minneapolis - A Kenyon, Minnesota, man who threatened to blow up the Rice County Courthouse was sentenced today in federal court for that crime. Allan Talmage Weatherford, age 45, was ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson to serve ten years in federal custody with credit for the ten months he has served to date. Weatherford had earlier pleaded guilty to possession of a destructive device. In imposing the sentence, which was the maximum allowable for this crime, Judge Magnuson noted that this is a nation of laws, and the people who work in our courthouses to enforce, adjudicate, and address those laws must be able to carry out their duties without fear.
Court documents in this case indicate that Weatherford admitted to possession of an explosive device in connection with his threat to blow up government buildings, including the Rice County Courthouse and local law enforcement center. Moreover, Weatherford acknowledged possession of sixteen firearms, including a fifty-caliber assault rifle, a semi-automatic rifle, boltaction
rifles, pump-action shotguns, and handguns. Weatherford is prohibited by federal law from
possessing firearms.
According to court documents in this case, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Weatherford’s Rice County farm on November 7, 2005, and seized thirteen firearms, including the fifty-caliber military sniper rifle. On February 11, 2006, law enforcement again found Weatherford with a firearm and arrested him. Based on information developed during the subsequent investigation, law enforcement executed another search warrant on the farmstead on March 23, 2006, and recovered an explosive device made from a CO2 cartridge, black powder, and a fuse. They also found material used in the construction of the device as well as a pistol and ammunition. On March 28, 2006, investigators located two propane tanks on the farm filled with a mixture of fertilizer and petroleum. Although subsequent lab analysis indicated that the mixture was not of the quality needed to produce an explosive, Weatherford had admitted his intention to manufacture a fertilizer bomb.
After today’s sentencing hearing, United States Attorney Rachel K. Paulose stated, “One of the highest priorities of the United States Department of Justice is to reinforce confidence in the legal system by ensuring the safety of our court officials, witnesses, and law enforcement officers.”
This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Rice County Sheriff’s Office; the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office; the Northfield Police Department; the Faribault Police Department; the Bloomington Police Department; and the South Central Drug Investigation Unit,
which is comprised of investigators from Rice, Steele, Waseca, Freeborn, and Faribault Counties.
Assistant United States Attorney Joseph T. Dixon prosecuted the case.
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