Two men were arrested on felony charges after Cabot police responded to a domestic disturbance and found a quarter-pound of explosives on Tuesday.
Officers were called about 5:45 p.m. to a disturbance between a woman and two men at 47 Pheasant Run Drive, southeast of Arkansas 367. Police spokesman Sgt. Shane Moore said that brothers Marvin Davis, 33, and Dallas Davis, 39, tried to leave the residence in a vehicle, but officers stopped them. Moore said the younger brother fled on foot after the stop, but was apprehended nearby.
Officers learned the brothers' estranged stepfather, Melvin Schmidt, 49, lived at the address. They searched the vehicle and reportedly found a "military-style" ammunition canister containing about a quarter-pound of trinitrotoluene, the explosive material known as TNT. Police evacuated about a dozen homes in the area and called the Little Rock Fire Department bomb squad to the scene. The bomb squad then dismantled the explosive.
No injuries were reported.
Police said Dallas Davis was arrested on an unrelated warrant.
But Schmidt and Marvin Davis were both charged with criminal possession of explosive material or a destructive device, a Class B felony. Davis also faces a charge of fleeing.
Schmidt was additionally charged with possession of a controlled substance and simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms. Police reportedly searched the Pheasant Run Drive residence and found 2.3 grams of methamphetamine and a loaded .357-caliber revolver in his bedroom.
Police also arrested Jessica Chambers, 27, at the home on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Moore said it was unclear how Schmidt and Marvin Davis acquired TNT. The explosive, which is poisonous and causes skin irritation on contact, is commonly used in industrial mining, construction, demolition and military bomb manufacturing.
Moore said investigators didn't know what the two planned to do with the explosive.
"They were pretty tight-lipped about it," he said Wednesday afternoon. "And from my understanding, they still currently are."
Moore said he did not have information on whether Schmidt or his younger stepson have military backgrounds. He said an investigation is ongoing.
The Little Rock field office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did not return a call seeking comment late Wednesday.
Court records show Schmidt had been on probation since May 25 after negotiating a guilty plea to charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by certain persons. A court affidavit, filed by the Lonoke County sheriff's office, states that deputies responded to a disturbance at his estranged wife's home on Arkansas 89 the morning of Dec. 4 last year and found Schmidt outside on a motorcycle with marijuana, a pistol and a digital scale with a white powdery substance.
A neighbor told police that Schmidt was a member of an Arkansas motorcycle club that identified its members as "one percenters," a nickname in the motorcycle community for outlaws, according to the affidavit.
Schmidt and Marvin Davis were being held in the Lonoke County jail late Wednesday.
Metro on 07/21/2016