OREM, Utah — A man was arrested Thursday, then had charges added to his booking Friday after his employer found explosives in the company-owned trailer he was living in.
Police were called to a business near 750 N. State Street after it was reported that an employee took a vehicle without permission, according to a press release from the Orem Police Department.
Officers then contacted 46-year-old Scott Bowers, who lived in a trailer owned by the business. He was booked on suspicion of joyriding, as well as drug possession after narcotics and paraphernalia were allegedly found in his possession.
On Friday, the owner of the business found a box with "suspected explosives" while cleaning out the trailer, according to police. Officers responded, then called in the Utah County Bomb Squad and obtained a warrant for the trailer.
The bomb squad's robot retrieved the box, which police say included a clay-like substance "inside of a bag consistent with a plastic explosive," as well as ball bearings and small magnets that the bomb squad identified as shrapnel.
Police also said the box had "explody" and other words written on it, and there was a metal tube labeled "blasting cap explosives" with colored wires connected to it.
Police said they asked Bowers about the items, and he said he found the blasting cap in a field and kept it because he thought it looked cool.
The bomb squad tested the items, during which police said the blasting cap detonated. The clay-like substance, which they said they still did not know what exactly it was made of, did not detonate.
Bowers now faces charges of possessing an explosive device and possessing a dangerous weapon by a restricted person. Court documents say he is on probation. He was convicted of possessing and driving with a controlled substance in 2019, along with the illegal possession of a weapon.
Bowers is being held without bail.
The FBI has been contacted and will be involved in the ongoing investigation.
