Federal grand jury indicts man for housing “arsenal”
A Franklin County man arrested in early March for housing what officials called an “arsenal” of explosive material was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday.
William Ray Hines, 43, 19118 U.S. 43, Russellville, was indicted for possessing unregistered explosive devices and being a convicted felon in possession of ammunition, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and ATF Special Agent in Charge Glenn Anderson said.
According to a statement made Wednesday, the 12 pineapple grenades found in Hines’ residence were not registered with the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
“Through our educational prisoner re-entry efforts and prosecutions like this one, we want to make it clear to the community and potential defendants that federal law prohibits convicted felons from possessing firearms or ammunition. Period,” Vance said.
“Also, individuals who manufacture or possess explosive devices, devices which can be destructive and deadly, are in violation of federal law.
“This office will work closely with our law enforcement partners to prosecute those individuals.”
According to Franklin county Sheriff Shannon Oliver, officers received a tip on March 4 that Hines was storing explosive materials at his residence and that he could be planning to use them to harm members of the community.
After receiving the tip, Oliver said investigators secured and executed a search warrant at Hines’ residence where officers discovered 12 pineapple-type grenades, 100 feet of cannon wire, a large quantity of ammunition and assault magazines for firearms, two smoke grenades and other various explosive materials.
Authorities said Hines had been making threats to use the explosives to harm people in the area and he posed a serious threat to the community.
Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said the federal prosecution of Hines’ case means his case with the state will be dismissed.
“Cases cannot be prosecuted by the state and the federal government at the same time, so we will probably be filing for dismissal in the next few days,” Rushing said.
“Once the federal government found out about [Hines’] previous felony charge and knew how much explosive material he had, we knew they would probably take over the case.”
At this time, Hines still remains in custody at the Franklin County Jail. He will soon be transferred to a federal prison.
