GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten today announced that Luke Isaac Terpstra, a 30-year-old resident of Grant, Michigan, has been charged with transporting an explosive with the intent to kill, injure, or intimidate individuals or to unlawfully damage or destroy a building.
Terpstra also faces a separate charge that he illegally possessed a destructive device. The indictment charges that Terpstra built several devices that he characterized as “bombs” and then transported those devices, along with multiple firearms and ammunition, from Michigan to the site of The Satanic Temple (TST) in Massachusetts in September 2023.
Read more…
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Michigan
Related:
- Michigan, New Jersey and Washington terror plot arrests reveal a dangerous path to ISIS self-radicalization
November 16, 2025
They live in New Jersey, Michigan and Washington state — six young men arrested in recent weeks and charged in an alleged ISIS-inspired terror plot. The suspects, among others, are accused of using encrypted messaging and social media apps “to share extremist and ISIS-related materials that encourage attacks” in the US, including on the LGBTQ+ community ...
- Michigan: Improvised explosive devices found in Flint home
November 7, 2025
On Wednesday, November 5, at approximately 7 p.m., the Flint City Police Department responded to a residence located in the 1600 block of Blackberry Ln after a citizen who was cleaning out the home discovered suspicious items and immediately called 911. Upon arrival, officers identified items that appeared to be improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Flint PD ...
- New Jersey: Two arrested in terror probe in wake of Michigan Halloween plot
November 5, 2025
Two men have been charged in connection with an alleged ISIS-inspired terrorist plot planned in Michigan, acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba said Wednesday. Habba said in a video on the social platform X that the men, one from New Jersey and one from Washington state, are charged with conspiring to material support to ...
- Michigan: Authorities investigate ‘targeted’ explosion in Battle Creek
October 20, 2025
Authorities in Battle Creek are investigating after an explosion occurred on the southwest side of the city late Friday night. Officers with the Battle Creek Police Department (BCPD) were called to Ridge Street north of Goguac Street West shortly before 11:30 p.m. after the Calhoun County Dispatch Center received a report of an explosion in the ...
- Michigan: Live World War II-era hand grenade discovered in Monroe County home
October 20, 2025
The Michigan State Police Bomb Squad was called to assist local police in Monroe County after the discovery of a World War II-era hand grenade that was still active. The Carleton Police Department said they got a call Saturday about a suspicious item in the kitchen of a home on Ash Street. A family member had ...
- Michigan: 4 dead and 8 injured in church shooting and fire
September 29, 2025
The person accused in a fatal shooting and fire Sunday at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township is a 40-year-old area man with a military background. Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, is from Burton, a city of nearly 30,000 people roughly 6 miles from Grand Blanc Township. Both are suburbs of ...
- Michigan man sentenced for traveling with explosive devices to Massachusett
August 2, 2025
A 31-year-old man has been sentenced for traveling with several explosive devices from Michigan to Massachusetts, federal officials said on Friday. A judge sentenced Luke Isaac Terpstra to three years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan. He pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device in April. ...
- Michigan: Chinese Nationals Charged with Conspiracy and Smuggling a Dangerous Biological Pathogen into the U.S.
June 4, 2025
DETROIT – Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, were charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud, announced United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. Gorgon was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Cheyvoryea ...
- Michigan: Pipe bombs found in abandoned vehicle in Saginaw
May 20, 2025
Authorities discovered pipe bombs in an abandoned vehicle in Saginaw this week thanks, in part, to an explosive-sniffing K9, according to the Saginaw Police Department. A Saginaw officer and police dog were dispatched Monday, May 19 to Mike’s Wrecker, located at 2522 Hess Ave. in Saginaw, on reports of suspicious pipes found in an abandoned truck ...
- Michigan: Former National Guardsman allegedly plotted ISIS-inspired attack on military facility near Detroit
May 14, 2025
A former member of Michigan’s Army National Guard was arrested for allegedly plotting to carry out an ISIS-inspired mass attack on a military facility near Detroit, according to newly unsealed court records. Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, allegedly engaged in detailed attack planning to carry out a mass shooting at the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command, ...
- Radioactive waste from the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II heading to Michigan
August 19, 2024
Radioactive waste from the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II is coming to Wayne County. In September, thousands of tons of the toxic material will be hauled to the Republic Services facility in Van Buren Township. The radioactive waste is coming from Niagara Falls, one of the sites of the Manhattan Project. The ...
- Michigan: Grant Man Charged With Transporting Explosive And Possessing A Destructive Device
May 8, 2024
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten today announced that Luke Isaac Terpstra, a 30-year-old resident of Grant, Michigan, has been charged with transporting an explosive with the intent to kill, injure, or intimidate individuals or to unlawfully damage or destroy a building. Terpstra also faces a separate charge ...
- Michigan: A look behind the scenes of explosive detection at Detroit Metro Airport
March 14, 2024
Most people don’t even know there is an elite team dedicated to detecting explosives at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. It’s a big job, and the explosive detection specialists at Detroit Metro Airport understand and appreciate the high stakes of their mission. The “call to serve” that inspired so many of them to begin their careers ...
- Michigan Army Guard Civil Support Team Trains with Law Enforcement
January 22, 2024
Detroit – Highly specialized teams from the Michigan Army National Guard trained with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies during a countering weapons of mass destruction response exercise. More than 30 members of the Michigan Army National Guard 51st Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team used Detroit’s Huntington Place and Ford Field, the home ...
- Michigan: Bomb squad diffuses homemade explosive on truck in Wayne
September 13, 2023
A slew of police departments and bomb squad agencies converged on a Wayne County neighborhood Sunday afternoon after a suspicious package alert was determined a credible threat. Residents were evacuated for hours as crews disassembled the device. The homemade explosive device was found in the wheel well of a truck parked at a home in the ...
- Michigan: Rosie the bomb-sniffing dog may be the most popular ‘kid’ in school
December 20, 2022
Forget metal detectors. Huron Valley is taking a warm and fuzzy approach to keeping students and staff safe in an era of school shootings and bomb threats. Rosie, a black Labrador retriever, is the school district’s new tail-wagging, hand-nuzzling, explosives-sniffing safety feature. She sauntered down the hallway of Milford High School on Tuesday, drawing smiles and pets ...
- Homemade bomb found by West Michigan roadside, brought to City Hall
June 21, 2022
Michigan State Police are among those investigating after an improvised explosive device (IED) was found by a Michigan roadside. According to authorities, a Brooks Township citizen drove to the Newaygo Police Department with a strange object they found by the roadside Monday. They contacted a City Hall staff member, reporting that they had a suspicious item he believed ...
- Michigan: Grand Rapids police dog who did bomb sweeps for rock stars, presidential candidates retires
June 1, 2022
The Grand Rapids police dog who did bomb sweeps for rock stars and presidential candidates has retired. The K-9 dog, Atos, who served with the Grand Rapids Police Department for eight years, retired last week, Grand Rapids police officials announced Wednesday. During his tenure, Atos and his partner, Grand Rapids police Sgt. Jeff Dionne, performed about 200 ...
- Michigan: Meet Hans and Greta, the S.S. Badger’s new explosive detection K9s
May 19, 2022
They’re sweet, friendly, a little bit “ball crazy” – and trained to detect explosives. Hans and Greta are the newest additions to the K9 program for the S.S. Badger car ferry. The pups had their first workday last week when the ferry made its first trip of the year across Lake Michigan. The dogs spent about two ...
- Michigan: Grand Rapids police to detonate seized explosives, say blast noise likely near disposal site
December 28, 2021
Grand Rapids police plan to detonate seized and old explosives as part of a controlled disposal process Thursday, Dec. 30. Police issued an advisory Tuesday, Dec. 28, mostly for people who may be near the disposal site at the city’s yard waste and compost area, 2001 Butterworth St. SW. The intermittent detonations will likely be heard by ...
- Michigan: Man tried to bomb phone stores to prevent spread of porn
September 24, 2021
A Michigan man is accused of placing pipe bombs outside cellphone stores as part of a crusade to halt telecommunications “containing immoral content,” like porn and cursing, court documents show. John Douglas Allen, 75 was charged with extortion and attempted destruction of interstate commerce buildings, the feds said in a press release Tuesday. Allen was allegedly caught ...
- Michigan: Kalamazoo police find explosive device during drug investigation
September 3, 2021
Kalamazoo officers found an improvised explosive device during a drug investigation at a home Monday evening. The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety executed a search warrant at the home on Ada Street, near the intersection of Westnedge Avenue, about 5:30 p.m., after getting information from the community that drugs were being sold at the residence, said ...