A Jefferson County man acknowledged on Tuesday the possession of a pipe bomb. Robert Hiler, aged 38, entered a guilty plea in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis for one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device.
Hiler confessed that on September 11, 2023, deputies from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office were searching for another individual with multiple active felony warrants. After obtaining a search warrant for Hiler's residence, the deputies arrested their target in the woods behind the house. With Hiler's consent, they searched his home and discovered a pipe bomb on a grey bucket in a room next to his garage. Hiler admitted to creating the bomb and had planned to detonate it using a car battery.
Hiler is set to be sentenced in July. He faces a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Ware and Mohsen Pasha are leading the prosecution.
