Three Sentenced In Explosives Theft Defendants Plead Guilty, Receive Sentences From 9 Months To 5 Years

Sobbing, pleading for forgiveness and claiming to have found God, three North Idaho men were sent to prison Wednesday for their part in the theft of 500 pounds of dynamite.

Kent Allan Johnson of Post Falls, Corey Lee Miller of Osburn, and Joseph TepnerGalland of Coeur d’Alene pleaded guilty to possession of stolen explosives.

During their daylong sentencing hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Edward J. Lodge said he was disturbed at lenient sentencing guidelines for the crime.

“It shocks my conscience,” he said, noting that mandatory-minimum drug sentences are much stiffer. “One incident in Oklahoma - 169 lives were lost - that’s what explosives can do.

“When it was reported that more than 500 pounds of explosives had been stolen…everyone could only fear the worst,” Lodge said. “There was a certain paralysis to this whole area.”

Johnson and Miller stole the explosives from a locked munitions bunker at the Lucky Friday Mine near Wallace on July 30. Tepner-Galland then drove the explosives from Coeur d’Alene to Sandpoint.

On Wednesday, Lodge ordered Miller to spend nine months behind bars, followed by three months of house arrest.

It was the lightest sentence, because Miller has no prior felony record, turned himself in and cooperated with authorities.

Johnson received a four-year prison sentence because he used the dynamite in a failed attempt at blowing up a bank night depository box. He also led police on a chase when they tried to catch him.

Tepner-Galland will spend more than five years in prison. Although he didn’t steal the dynamite, he has two prior convictions for violent felonies.

“I’m truly sorry for what I did,” Miller told the judge.

Miller claimed Johnson threatened to hurt his wife and children if he didn’t participate in the theft.

Defense attorney Reuben Iniguez said Miller didn’t know what the explosives would be used for and tried to prevent Johnson from hurting anyone by not stealing blasting caps.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Rafael Gonzalez said he doesn’t believe Miller was physically threatened.

Miller allowed Johnson to stay in his home and knew Johnson was heavily involved in methamphetamine, Gonzalez told the judge.

Prior to stealing the dynamite, the two men broke into another mine and some boxcars searching for other explosives. If Miller really didn’t want to steal the dynamite, he had plenty of chances to go to authorities, Gonzalez said.

Tepner-Galland said he didn’t know he was handling stolen explosives until he was already transporting them.

Johnson said Wednesday it was Miller, a former mining technician, who planned the theft.

Miller knew how to find the explosives and wanted to sell it so he would have money to buy methamphetamine, said Ray Barker, Johnson’s attorney.

Prosecutor Gonzalez called the theft “a plot hatched in methamphetamine heaven.”

There had been concern that the men planned to sell the explosives to militia members. However, Gonzalez believes the men had no pre-arranged buyers and were having a hard time figuring out what to do with it all.

Johnson thanked Herb Byerly, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent, for arresting him. “By arresting me he saved my life,” Johnson said, crying. “I was going to die soon.”

Possession of stolen explosives carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. But federal guidelines say a person who steals 500 pounds of explosives, has no prior felony convictions and pleads guilty to the crime should receive 12 to 18 months in prison.

, DataTimes