Orem man charged with 75 felonies after police find cache of homemade bombs

PROVO — An investigation into a report of a man waving a gun outside a mall in Provo led to the discovery of numerous homemade explosive devices in the man’s bedroom, police say.

Now, Eric Nathaniel Whitaker, 41, of Orem, is facing more than six dozen first-degree felony charges.

Whitaker was charged Tuesday in the 4th District Court with 75 counts of manufacturing, possessing, selling, or attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

On Friday, Provo police were called to the Provo Towne Centre mall, 1200 Towne Centre Blvd., on a report “that a man was waving a gun around,” according to charging documents. The man drove away before officers arrived, but he was located a short distance away in a church parking lot.

 

Whitaker “got out of the car and told police he had been involved in a road rage incident where he felt threatened, so he ‘brandished’ his gun. (He) was calling 911 from the church parking lot to report the incident,” the charges state.

Police asked if they could hold onto his gun as they talked to him, which Whitaker agreed to. But when they looked at his front passenger seat, “police found a black bag that held a Glock 20 with a magazine holding 13 rounds, with a round in the chamber. The bag held an additional 11 loaded magazines. (Whitaker) said he had steel plates for target shooting and also a machete in his trunk,” according to the charges.

In Whitaker’s car trunk, officers “found an object wrapped in duct tape with a fuse attached. The bomb squad responded, (which) X-rayed the device and found it was an improvised explosive device packed with nails and round metal pellets. The bomb squad found three more such devices in the trunk,” the charges allege.

Whitaker was then arrested and detectives went to his Orem residence with a search warrant to seek additional evidence.

“In his bedroom, officers found a total of 71 more improvised explosive devices, in addition to materials to make the devices — fireworks, tape, spray adhesives, nails, and thumbtacks,” according to the charges.

Whitaker’s apartment complex was evacuated while a bomb squad removed the devices and transported them to a shooting range where they were detonated.

“Several of the devices exploded while the officers attempted to recover evidence from them. When detonated, officers heard shrapnel hitting objects at the range,” the charges state.