Second Kern County Resident Pleads Guilty to Distributing Explosives

FRESNO, Calif. — Michael Roy Anglin, 22, of Wofford Heights, entered a guilty plea today to distributing explosives to a non-licensed person, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, in May 2023, Vigneault and Michael Roy Anglin, 21, of Wofford Heights, sold and delivered six full boxes and one partial box of Hydromite 880, an explosive, weighing approximately 350 pounds to a non-licensed person. Neither Vigneault, Anglin, nor the buyer were licensed to handle or transport explosives as required by federal law. Anglin knew that the Hydromite 880 was stolen from Austin Powder West LLC. The boxes containing the explosives were labeled “Explosive, Blasting, Type E” and “Blasting Agent.” The sticks of Hydromite 880 were also individually labeled “Danger” and “Explosive.” Hydromite is a high explosive containing ammonium nitrate and is used as a blasting agent.

Austin Powder West LLC, a licensed explosives manufacturer, confirmed that 295 sticks of Hydromite, weighing 702 pounds, went missing from its Lake Isabella storage facility sometime in May 2023. The missing explosives included the boxes that Anglin and Vigneault sold. The value of the unrecovered explosives is $7,603.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar is prosecuting the case.

Anglin is scheduled for sentencing in federal court on July 29, 2024. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. Vigneault previously entered a guilty plea and is scheduled for sentencing on May 20, 2024.