An attorney says two southwest Iowa teens charged with possessing a pipe bomb were not local terrorists. “Just two kids who didn’t do a very smart thing,” is how Montgomery County Attorney Bruce Swanson describes 17-year old Brett Querry and 16-year old Eric Vannausdale.
The teens, from Red Oak, were caught in possession of a pipe bomb Saturday night. The duo told authorities they were waiting in a pickup for another person to bring them a fuse, so they could blow up a beaver dam. Swanson says because neither teen has a criminal record, they will be tried in juvenile — instead of adult — court.
The attorney says he knows the parents of the boys, and says the teens will “probably be wishing we had put them in jail, instead of sending them home,” when it comes to their punishment.