Mounds Man Arrested For Manufacturing, Possessing Bombs

A Mounds man was arrested in Creek County Monday after a juvenile reportedly brought a pipe bomb to school and told officials his father makes explosive devices.

According to court documents, Kent Bartell, 46, was arrested on complaints of child endangerment and manufacturing or possessing any explosive device, after a federal search warrant turned up "numerous items" used to make bombs.

Bartell operates the "New Hope Health Clinic" in Jenks, and uses alternative, holistic methods of medicine. According to his website, Bartell is a "doctor of naturopathy," holds a doctorate degree from a chiropractic college and has taught physiology on the collegiate level and given lectures on a variety of holistic topics such as alternative treatments for cancer.

According to the Oklahoma Medical Board's website, Bartell is not licensed. 

Authorities said they were tipped off to Bartell's alleged activity when Jenks High School officials overheard students discussing how another student was in possession of a pipe bomb.

When questioned, the student told an assistant principal and FBI agents that his father had been making and detonating explosive and incendiary devices on his property for approximately two months, documents say. The boy said his father used deconstructed fireworks to construct homemade bombs and used bleach and fertilizer to make others, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Read the probable cause affidavit about Kent Bartell

In interviews with the FBI, the student reportedly said he tried to detonate the pipe bomb, but after the device failed, brought it to school to show friends.

Authorities said a consented search of the juvenile's cell phone produced images "of multiple explosive devices as well as videos." Also found in the phone were photos of rifles, the juvenile shooting rifles and photos of him holding large amounts of cash, the affidavit said. There were also photos on the phone sent by Bartell to his son, of packing labels on boxes from Hong Kong.

The juvenile stated his father had several unexploded devices including a Molotov cocktail made from a root beer bottle that contains gasoline and oil, black powder and other materials used to construct explosives.

When a search warrant of Bartell's Mounds property was conducted that evening, officials turned up devices described by Bartell's son, and numerous others, including a mixture the Tulsa Police Bomb Squad likened to a Napalm bomb, according to the affidavit.

"They found divets in the ground indicative of explosive charges being set off in that area," TPD Bomb Squad Sgt. Jacob Thompson said. "Did find pieces of bowling balls scattered throughout the area and evidence they'd been blown up and found fragments of wood and pipe."

State law says no one can make or possess or set off improvised explosive devices and it doesn't matter if you live in an urban or rural area.

"Explosives are a very dangerous business," Thompson said.

At least one neighbor said he heard explosions: "[We] knew it was too big to be gunfire," Joe Carner said.

Authorities said to make your own fireworks or blow up a tree stump in this post-9/11 era, people must get a license and follow strict guidelines about how much to use and how to store the materials.