Turner man guilty in pipe bomb case

A Turner man faces at least five years in federal prison for blowing up a Coca-Cola machine with a pipe bomb.

A jury in U.S. District Court in Portland Friday found Jonathan Poland, 20, guilty of possession of an unregistered destructive device and malicious damage of personal property used in interstate commerce.

The first charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The second has a maximum of 20 years, but a mandatory minimum of five years.

Poland was a senior in high school and just four months past his 18th birthday when he and his cousin stole bomb-making ingredients from the local Home Depot and blew up a vending machine owned by Coca-Cola Co. on March 19, 2004.

No one was hurt in the blast at a truck stop in Turner, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Darcie McElwee said it was still a serious crime. The pipe bomb was detonated within 20 feet of four gas pumps and 50 feet from a propane tank, she said.

Poland did not become a suspect in the case until he attempted to buy fertilizer with the potential explosive power of 20 pounds of TNT.

"That was a factor of great concern for the government," she said. "This young man was on his way to make something more serious than a pipe bomb."

An employee at Murray's Truck Stop in Turner found the vending machine destroyed when he showed up for work on March 20, 2004.

State Trooper Eric Paquette and Special Agent Christopher Durkin of the bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms collected evidence, which was sent to a lab in Maryland for analysis.

About two weeks later, the Paris Farmers Union Supply Store in Turner reported that Poland had ordered fertilizer with a high concentration of ammonium nitrate, which could be used to make explosives.

Paquette and Durkin questioned Poland outside his home about the fertilizer. Poland initially denied it, but eventually said that he had planned to buy some to fertilize his father's lawn.

Poland said he never made any bombs, but admitted that he read about bomb-making on the Internet.

Poland's father, Craig Poland, came home during the interview and gave the officers permission to look at his son's computer. Next to the computer Durkin saw a metal cap, similar to ones he found at Murray's.

Jonathan Poland admitted that it was part of a black powder pipe bomb that he made with his cousin and detonated in a field in Turner. Poland also admitted to using a similar bomb to blow up the soda machine.

Poland's cousin was under 18 at the time. McElwee said no one else has been charged for the pipe bomb incident.

On Friday, Poland's lawyer, Leonard Sharon, argued that the jury should disregard Poland's confession because of the way it was collected.

Sharon also argued that the Coca-Cola machine was not engaged in interstate commerce, which is an essential element of the federal crime.

McElwee said the machine was built in West Virginia, and sold soda bottled in New Hampshire with syrup made in Georgia.

"The Coca-Cola machine would not have existed were it not for interstate commerce," she said.

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