Longmont, Colo.-A 51-year-old Longmont man described by local authorities as “brilliant but with a strange curiosity about explosives” is free on bond after being found guilty of three felony counts for possession of explosives material, including a quantity of ammonium nitrate. Ronald Swerlein appeared July 17 before a Boulder County district judge, who prohibited Swerlein from having any possession or involvement with explosives. CDR Tim Lewis, who heads the Longmont detectives squad, said the Swerlein case goes back to 2007, when police carried out a search warrant at his home and discovered he was making nitro glycerin (NG) and Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PNTN). “We served another search warrant at his home on July 2 and found him making hydrogen peroxide-based explosives,” Lewis reported. “He’s a brilliant man, so I don’t know what is causing him to do these things with explosives. He doesn’t quite understand because of his curiosity that this is illegal.” Lewis said Swerlein has another court appearance this month. Lewis said his cache included a quantity of ammonium nitrate, but couldn’t recall just how much. The clerk of court located the search warrant at the request of Green Markets and found ammonium nitrate listed among the explosives that were seized. She said the warrant indicated that there were two bags of the fertilizer, but did not mention the total amount. Neighbors who reported explosions from Swerlein’s garage led police to the retired electrical engineer’s door in both cases. In the 2007 case, Swerlein told police he was merely a “nerd” experimenting with a model rocket fuel. For a picture of Swerlein, see the Breaking News section of greenmarkets.pf.com.
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