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Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Southern District of Iowa

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Marc Krickbaum
, United States Attorney
Contact: Rachel J. Scherle

Illinois Man Found Guilty of 15 Counts Involving Pipe Bombs, Stalking, Domestic Violence, Interstate Truck Theft, and Tampering with a Witness and Evidence

DAVENPORT, IA- On Monday, June 24, 2019, a jury found Chad Eric Mink, age 43, of Rock Island, Illinois, guilty of fifteen (15) separate federal offenses including interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle, stalking (two counts), interstate domestic violence (two counts), possession of unregistered destructive devices (pipe bombs) (two counts), being a prohibited person in possession of explosives (two counts), fraudulent use of a means of identification of another person, malicious use of explosives, possession of a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence, carrying explosive materials during commission of a federal felony, tampering with a witness, and obstruction of official proceedings.

The jury trial commenced on June 10, 2019. The Government presented more than 70 witnesses, including several forensic experts who testified about Mink using a stolen truck to ram a vehicle occupied by a former intimate partner and her boyfriend, possessing multiple pipes bombs, planting a pipe bomb near his former intimate partner’s room at the Quad City Inn in Davenport, and attempting to influence a witness to destroy evidence and to fabricate evidence. Sentencing is presently scheduled for November 14, 2019 at 1:30 p.m. The defendant faces up to life in prison and mandatory minimum sentences of five years, 10 and 30 years, all to be served consecutively to each other and any other sentence imposed.

The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Quad City Bomb Squad, Davenport, Milan (IL), Moline (IL), and Rock Island (IL) Police Departments, Scott County and Rock Island County Sheriff’s Departments, Illinois State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Kansas City Field Division