The Lee County Sheriff's Office is crediting a gun shop staff with alerting it to a felon with questionable plans.
According to a news release Thursday afternoon, a felon, Michael Whatley, 29, of Lehigh Acres, attempted to purchase a firearm Wednesday at Gunsmoke and Lead in Lehigh Acres.
Whatley, who works for The Redneck Mechanic, made concerning comments about possessing explosives, several firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition, prompting the shop staff to contact deputies.
"The explosives and use described by Whatley could be used to inflict mass casualties not only on law enforcement personnel, but to anyone in the general public that could be in the vicinity," according to a Notice of First Appearance filed with the Lee County Clerk of Courts.
"Whatley's own statements described using the ingredients to build mines and pipe bombs to disperse them throughout his property without any concern for the safety of his four children, wife and neighbors on the other side of the duplex in which the items are stored."
The sheriff's office's Intelligence Unit served a search warrant at Whatley's home in the 3000 block of Gordon Avenue.
Detectives found two 9 mm pistols, two high-powered rifles with high-powered scopes, a Glock conversion kit to transition a pistol to a rifle, approximately 1,500 rounds of ammunition, nine high-capacity 9 mm magazines, several 30-round high-capacity rifle magazines, 100 feet of waterproof cannon fuse and a half-pound of Tannerite exploding powder.
Whatley remained jailed Thursday evening on a charge of possession of a weapon or ammunition by a convicted felon. His bail has been set at $50,000.
He has requested a public defender.
His next court date is July 23.
Whatley was arrested on cocaine possession charges in 2014.