Fresno, California – A campus security supervisor at a Bakersfield high school pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiring to engage in manufacturing and dealing in explosive materials and mailing explosive devices, as well as making false statements to FBI agents.
Angelo Jackson Mendiver, 27, used an Instagram account to sell bombs and explosive materials and worked closely with a male Arvin High School student to fulfill transactions and send explosives in the mail to residents of other states, according to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announcement. More than 1,000 pounds of explosive materials and other bomb-making materials were seized from the homes of both Mendiver and his unidentified high school student accomplice.
“In one Instagram message to the juvenile, Mendiver sent a photo of titanium salute, an explosive device, followed by two videos he took of homemade explosive devices that he had made and the statement that ‘homemade kills all consumer,”’ according to the DOJ.
The security officer’s accomplice also told prosecutors that Mendiver taught him about explosives, reports Bakersfield.com. From June of 2022 to June of this year, Mendiver reportedly mixed the chemicals, sold the materials on Instagram, and shipped them via the U.S. Postal Service.
Before his arrest in June, Mendiver had worked as a campus supervisor at Arvin High School since August 2022. When school officials discovered he had been charged, he was placed on administrative leave, reports TurnTo23.
Mendiver is scheduled to be sentenced in April. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count, said the Eastern District of California Attorney’s Office. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
It’s unclear what charges the student will face.
