School employee and teen student made explosives, sold them over Instagram, feds say
A California high school security supervisor and a 16-year-old student made explosives and sold the devices over Instagram, federal prosecutors said.
Arvin High School employee Angelo Jackson Mendiver, 27, “worked closely” with the student of Bakersfield High School, which is about 20 miles northwest of Arvin, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.
The pair also sent explosives in the mail to individuals in other states, prosecutors said.
On June 1, federal agents seized about 500 pounds of explosives and related materials at Mendiver’s Bakersfield home as a search warrant was executed, according to prosecutors.
Agents found and seized an additional 500 pounds of explosives at the 16-year-old’s home that day, prosecutors said.
Tools to make explosives were found inside both homes, according to prosecutors.
Mendiver pleaded guilty on Dec. 11 to conspiring to engage in manufacturing and dealing in explosive materials, mailing explosive devices and making false statements to FBI agents, the attorney’s office announced in a news release.
McClatchy News contacted Mendiver’s defense attorney and an Arvin High School official for comment on Dec. 12 and didn’t receive immediate responses.
It’s unclear whether Mendiver still works for the school. He wasn’t listed in its staff directory.
According to Mendiver’s plea agreement, the 16-year-old Bakersfield High School student wasn’t charged in the case.
McClatchy News contacted an official at the high school for comment on Dec. 12 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
On June 8, Mendiver was charged with six counts after he was accused of making explosives, the Fresno Bee previously reported.
Instagram messages about explosives
Mendiver and the teen are accused of making and selling explosives between June 18, 2022, and May 18 — based on “seized packages sent in the U.S. mail containing explosives, Instagram records and CashApp records,” Mendiver’s plea agreement says.
In August 2022, Mendiver messaged the teen over Instagram to warn him against posting videos building explosives to avoid attracting the attention of law enforcement, according to the plea agreement.
“Try to keep your building off insta, especially if people trip on prices it’ll take them 2 second to report you and or screen shot and send it to (the Bakersfield Police Department),” Mendiver wrote in one message, the plea agreement says.
That same month, Mendiver sent the teen a photo of titanium salute, “an explosive device,” and two videos of him using homemade explosives in what appears to be a public street, according to prosecutors and the plea agreement.
In a subsequent message to the teen, Mendiver wrote “homemade kills all consumer,” the plea agreement says.
Mendiver was originally charged with conspiring to commit offenses against the U.S., the Fresno Bee reported. However, he didn’t plead guilty to this charge, records show.
When the search warrant was executed at his home on June 1, Mendiver lied to the FBI about selling explosives and denied working with the 16-year-old, his plea agreement says.
He will be sentenced on April 1, according to prosecutors.
Mendiver faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.
Bakersfield is about 110 miles southeast of Fresno.
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