Man Faces Federal Charges For Explosives In Car, ATF Agents Say

A man faces federal charges after ATF agents say he had explosives in his car and the ingredients to make many more.

Daniel Charba is now charged with unlawfully making a destructive device and having an unregistered destructive device.

Investigators say the explosives were found in his car after it was towed to a body shop near Admiral and Utica in April.

ATF agents later searched his home and said they found the ingredients to make more bombs.

Charba is also charged with 13 counts of illegally making explosives.

How Was He Arrested

Explosives were first found in Daniel Charba’s car when it was towed to a body shop in April, investigators said.

Agent Ashley Stephens said the devices in the car were unstable and could have exploded. He said when agents searched Charba’s home, they found even more things that could have hurt a lot of people.

“The stuff that he was using is extremely sensitive to heat, shock, static, or friction,” said Stephens. “At any point, it could have detonated and could have hurt himself, could have hurt somebody else, the people working on his truck.”

Agents said an employee at a body shop first found the devices, but it was just the tip of the iceberg for what they found inside his home near West 31st Street and the Gilcrease Expressway.

“Over 30 pounds of precursors were found,” said Stephens. “In total, over eight pounds of homemade explosives.”

Investigators said they did not know what Charba’s intentions were, but they did not suspect anything related to terrorism at the time. Regardless, the number of explosives was enough to raise concerns.

“A legal consumer firework, by law, is only allowed to have 50 milligrams of an explosive powder inside,” said Stephens. “We’re talking eight pounds!”

The ATF said the employee who first noticed the suspicious devices in the car likely saved a lot of lives.