Special to the Port Arthur News

BEAUMONT, Texas – A 27-year-old Beaumont man has been arrested for federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas, U.S. Attorney Alan R. Jackson announced.

Mark Avrey Rudd was arrested Friday after a criminal complaint issued by the U.S. District Court charged him with possession of an unregistered destructive device.

Rudd appeared in federal court Friday afternoon.

According to information presented in court, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant Thursday at Rudd’s residence in the 4800 block of Belmont Street in Beaumont. Inside the residence, investigators located a cooler in a hall closet containing two suspected destructive devices.

One device was a 2-liter bottle filled with an unknown viscous liquid with wires extending from the top of the bottle. One of the wires connected to an unknown device inside the liquid. Because the device could not be safely identified, it was destroyed in accordance with safety procedures.

Agents safely removed the second device from the container and dismantled it. The second device consisted of a bottle of match heads, a friction plate or strike pad and a pyrotechnic device with a fuse, which was duct taped to bottles of butane and capsaicin dog repellant.

Inside Rudd’s bedroom investigators found match sticks with the red ignition material removed, two pyrotechnic devices, electronic rocker switches, an electronic timer with wires connected to a sensor, assorted wires and various diameters of pipe and a ballistic vest with a neck protector attachment.

Investigators also found a 21-page notebook with detailed writing on explosives and explosives construction. At the top of the first page was a handwritten note stating, “This is why you should not piss me off kabluey Chaos.”

If convicted, Rudd faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

The FBI, Beaumont police, Beaumont Fire Department and Beaumont Emergency Medical Services are investigating.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher T. Tortorice will prosecute the case.