Though adult nightclub staffers regularly find the cell phones that customers accidentally leave behind, rarely does such a benign occurrence lead to a heroic, life-saving outcome.
Yet that’s exactly what happened recently at the Rick’s Cabaret club in downtown Minneapolis, MN. A club staffer found a cell phone in the club, and after determining that it didn’t belong to any of the club’s staff or entertainers, began to look at the phone to see if he could determine a way to get it back to its owner.
What he found, however, was more than just a name or phone number — he saw photos of pipe bombs among the text messages the customer had sent.
The staffer and management immediately turned the phone over to the Savage Police Department after discovering the messages. Police found one image that showed two pipe bombs of different lengths next to a piece of mail which included a name and address of a man in Maplewood, MN.
That man turned out to be 27-year-old Dylan Raymond Orr. Court documents state that Orr was sending messages and photos to someone of the two devices, blueprints, and information on how to build and assemble pipe bombs, according to the affidavit. Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Orr’s home and located two six-inch pipe casings, four endcaps, and a bag of “suspected explosive powder,” according to the affidavit.
A special agent with the Department of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said both devices had small BBs wrapped in tape on the exterior of the casing known as “enhancements,” which are meant to increase the damage after detonating the device, the documents state.
Orr would later plead guilty in federal court to illegally possess a pipe bomb. His plea agreement states that he could face a maximum of 10 years behind bars.
