SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Two people were arrested over the weekend in connection with what the public reported as a series of explosions around the area over the past week or so.
South Hutchinson Police Chief Dean Harcrow says 18-year-old Tyler Bryce Bontrager of rural Reno County and 18-year-old Andrew A. Hoffman of South Hutchinson were booked into the county jail on charges of criminal use of explosives. Both men are free on bond. The two teens were stopped at State Street and Poplar by South Hutchinson police about 11 p.m. Saturday after the department received several tips about the two.
A search of the vehicle turned up a bag full of explosive devices, as well as other components that were unassembled. Police blocked off a two-block radius around the stop and evacuated homes within a half-block of the truck for several hours.
Harcrow says the two teens and their parents were being very cooperative. The explosives may be connected to the series of small explosions around the area over the past week or two.
Harcrow says the sheriff's department, Hutchinson police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also helping in the investigation.