Man Pleads Guilty In Dynamite Case Sentenced To Year’S Probation After Illegally Storing 110 Pounds Of Explosives Near Newport

A mentally disturbed Spokane man who unnerved his estranged wife and former co-workers pleaded guilty Thursday to reckless endangerment for illegally storing 110 pounds of dynamite.

Bruce E. Taxter, 45, didn’t admit guilt in the plea bargain but acknowledged there likely was enough evidence to convict him. He was sentenced to the nine days he already has spent in jail, 30 days of community service and a year of probation.

Taxter also has been cited by the state Department of Labor and Industries, which regulates dynamite use, and faces a $137,000 fine.

The reckless-endangerment case was handled in Pend Oreille County Superior Court because Taxter had stored the dynamite on his father’s rural property five miles south of Newport. Taxter was arrested there on March 23 when state officials came to check out a tip that Taxter was storing dynamite he claimed to have used.

Pend Oreille County Prosecutor Tom Metzger said Taxter’s former state Department of Transportation co-workers and his wife, who has since filed for divorce, were on edge at the time because of Taxter’s psychiatric problems and menacing behavior.

Defense attorney John Rodgers acknowledged in court that Taxter had been under psychiatric care for about two years for “depression, anxiety and some friction with the Department of Transportation.” Taxter worked for the department until he took disability leave last November.

Metzger said Taxter was upset about the circumstances of his departure from the Transportation Department and “made some remarks that could be construed as threats.”

Taxter was arrested and charged after state inspectors found he was storing dynamite. Although he had a state license to buy dynamite for immediate agricultural use, Taxter was not licensed to store explosives.

Taxter had no previous criminal convictions, and there was no evidence that he was planning any assault using the dynamite, Metzger said.

The prosecutor said Taxter showed state inspectors and police the stumps he claimed to have blasted with the dynamite. The officials were about to leave when Taxter’s body language convinced them he was lying, Metzger said.

When confronted about the deception, Taxter helped the investigators recover two relatively new 55-pound cases of dynamite, three sticks of old, unstable dynamite and a separate cache of blasting caps, Metzger said.

Taxter was charged with two counts of illegally storing explosives and one count of reckless endangerment.

He was released pending trial under unusually stringent conditions, including the surrender of his firearms and an order that he stay away from his wife and former co-workers at the Department of Transportation office on North Division in Spokane. Taxter also was required to surrender his concealed weapons permit and any badges identifying him as a volunteer in the Fairwood SCOPE neighborhood watch program, sponsored by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department.

Similar conditions were made part of Taxter’s sentence. Among other restrictions, Taxter is prohibited from buying and selling guns over the Internet.

Metzger said he was concerned about Internet gun dealing because Taxter had been a federally licensed firearms dealer. A spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said Taxter’s license has been inactive since November 1996 and Thursday’s conviction will prevent Taxter from being relicensed.