Fairburn Man Going to Prison on Multiple Charges After Making a Device Packed With Bullets & Hypodermic Needles

March 24, 2010 - ATLANTA, GA — WILLIAM DAVID OXFORD, 29, of Fairburn, Georgia, was sentenced today in federal court to serve over 5 years in federal prison on charges of drug trafficking, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a sawed-off shotgun and a poorly-assembled homemade device (improvised explosive device/ “IED”).

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “Had this defendant successfully assembled the device that he sold to a confidential informant, it would have been capable of causing serious harm. He put together a device made of PVC pipe that contained gun powder, live .22 caliber ammunition, and hypodermic needles. The device, however, was inoperable because it was poorly assembled. Thanks to good law enforcement work, agents arrested this defendant before he perfected his bomb-making skills.”

Special Agent in Charge Gregory Gant of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Atlanta Field Division said, “As a drug-dealing felon, Oxford was a worthy law enforcement target. However, when his talk graduated to supplying guns and claims of selling homemade bombs on the street, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office quickly brought ATF into the investigation. By design, the device was antipersonnel in nature and lacked only a means to initiate the charge. This was a swift and cooperative investigation that effectively neutralized a growing public safety threat. Oxford was a suspect just begging for federal attention, and he got it.”

OXFORD was sentenced to 5 years, 10 months in prison to be followed by 4 years of supervised release. OXFORD pleaded guilty to the nine separate drug and firearms charges on January 14, 2010.

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: In August 2009, OXFORD, a previously convicted felon, sold methamphetamine to a law enforcement informant on four different occasions, and on three of those dates OXFORD also sold guns to the informant, including a sawed-off shotgun, and the deficiently assembled bomb. After ATF special agents undertook procedures to make the bomb safe, an X-ray of the device showed that it was made out of capped PVC pipe that had been filled with gun powder, bullets, bullet casings, and hypodermic needles. The sawed-off shotgun was also determined by ATF agents to be illegal.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and investigators of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the East Point, Georgia, Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Kim S. Dammers prosecuted the case.