Police find homemade bomb, meth, guns during northern Michigan traffic stop
(Photos: MSP)
GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - A traffic stop last week in northern Michigan led police to a homemade bomb, meth, guns, and brass knuckles.
According to Michigan State Police, troopers believed people in two vehicles were involved in a drug transaction in the parking lot of a business on Vance Road in Blair Township just after 6:50 p.m. Sept. 28. A passenger in one of the vehicles was recognized as a Buckley man named Vincent Patrick Kelly, a probation absconder with a warrant.
When the vehicle, a Ford F-150, left, police stopped it on M-37 and took 33-year-old Kelly into custody. While searching him, they said they found baggies with traces of meth, suboxone strips, a small blue straw, and a homemade explosive device with a fuse.
(Photo: MSP)
The driver, who was a 34-year-old Traverse City man, and two other passengers, were interviewed and later released.
The vehicle was taken to the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office evidence garage. During a search of the vehicle, police said they found a 9mm handgun, ammunition, and brass knuckles where Kelly was sitting. A short barrel shotgun was found in the bed of the truck.
(Photo: MSP)
MSP Bomb Squad members took the explosive and detonated it in a safe area, police said.
Kelly is charged with one count of delivery manufacture methamphetamine, one count of felony firearms, and one count of possession of a short-barreled shotgun. He was given a $10,000 10% cash surety bond. More charges are expected to be authorized by the Grand Traverse County Prosecutor’s Office, police said.
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Police said they were unable to get additional information about the other vehicle that was in the parking lot when troopers first spotted Kelly.