Webster Man Appears In Federal Court On Destructive Device, Unregistered Firearm Charges

CONCORD, NH — A capital region man, accused of detonating pipe bombs in Weare last month, was in federal court on Wednesday to face several charges.

Dale Stewart, 54, faces possessing an unregistered firearm, a destructive device, and a destructive device unidentified by a serial number charges. He was charged on April 28 after bombs were detonated on April 26 and April 27. Stewart remains in jail.

According to complaints filed in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District, Stewart was also charged with two counts of throwing/placing explosives, three counts of possession of an infernal machine, two counts of reckless conduct-deadly weapon, second-degree assault with extreme indifference, two counts of disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief.

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Investigators accuse him of building and blowing up the devices in Weare. Police, after investigating the explosions, filed a search warrant for his vehicle. U.S. Attorney Jane Young said the search warrants yielded an undetonated “destructive device, constructed of white PVC pipe, with glued end caps, wrapped in black electrical tape, with a green hobby fuse protruding from one of the end caps.”

The bomb contained more than four ounces of explosive material — “consistent with the manufacturing of the two recovered suspected pipe bombs from the two separate detonation scenes in Weare.”

Stewart faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000 if convicted.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Weare police, and the Federal Protective Service led the investigation, she said, with “valuable assistance” provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Hampshire State Police.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cesar Vega is prosecuting the case.

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