CINCINNATI – James River Phillips, 21, of Mason, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to illegally transporting explosive materials. Phillips was arrested in April 2025 by the FBI Cincinnati Field Office’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) after agents executed search warrants in Mason, Oxford and Liberty Township.
According to court documents, on Sept. 22, 2024, Phillips transported components of an improvised explosive device (IED) to a large soccer complex in Lebanon, Ohio. Phillips planned to detonate the IED but was stopped when a Lebanon police officer instructed him to leave the complex because it was closed. The officer discovered the live IED and it was seized by the Butler County Bomb Squad. Subsequent testing revealed that the IED contained Nickel Hydrazine Nitrate (NHN) and Erythritol Tetranitrate (ETN).
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Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio
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