Wood Dale man pleads guilty to explosives, child pornography charges
Police searched Bryan Roehr's home last year looking for explosives, but that wasn't the only illicit material they found.
The Wood Dale man pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing both incendiary devices and child pornography — offenses that could put him behind bars for up to 15 years.
The investigation began in August 2011 after a Bloomingdale woman told police Roehr threatened to bomb her 2-year-old son's bedroom if she didn't pay a drug debt, writing in a text message, “You know I have explosives.”
Police subsequently searched Roehr's home on the 200 block of North Oakland Drive and uncovered a stockpile of potassium perchlorate, aluminum powder, cardboard tubes and cannon fuses.
Also recovered was a computer that officers scoured for Internet search terms related to bomb making. That's where authorities say police stumbled upon a cache of pornography involving children younger than 13.
DuPage County Prosecutor Joe Lindt said Roehr admitted in separate police interviews to possessing child pornography, as well as bombing a trash bin at Grace-Gospel Center in Bensenville in May 2011.
“He admitted he learned how to make pipe bombs basically by looking at videos on the Internet,” Lindt said in court.
In exchange for Roehr's guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed to seek a prison term of no more than 15 years when he otherwise would face up to 30.
Defense attorney Jay Fuller indicated in court that his client will ask for probation, which is also an option.
“We believe at sentencing we will show that Mr. Roehr has done a lot of hard work on the issues that have brought him before the court,” Fuller said.
Roehr, 25, returns to court Oct. 30 to set a sentencing date. Judge George Bakalis is presiding over the case.