High school supervisor sentenced for selling explosives

A former California high school campus security supervisor has been sentenced to two years in prison for conspiring to engage in the manufacturing and dealing of explosive materials and for mailing explosive devices, the Justice Department said.

Angelo Jackson Mendiver, 27, of Bakersfield, Calif., used an Instagram account to sell explosives and explosive materials and worked closely with a male juvenile at Bakersfield high school to make transactions and send explosives in the mail to residents of other states, the Justice Department announced in a statement Wednesday.

“In Instagram messages to the juvenile, Mendiver sent a photo of titanium salute, an explosive device, followed by two videos of homemade explosive devices that he had made and the statement that ‘homemade kills all consumer,'” the Justice Department said. “He also advised the juvenile to be ‘super careful bro that homemade shit is dangerous.'”

Officials discovered 536 pounds of explosive material when they searched Mendiver’s home in June, 2023, and another 440 pounds of explosive material at the juvenile’s house.

Mendiver denied selling explosives and claimed he did not work with anyone to commit crimes using them.

The FBI worked with the Bakersfield Police Department on the case.