By Ann McCreary
For the second time in less than three months, Marc A. Jefferson of Twin Lakes has been booked into Okanogan County Jail on charges related to possession of explosives.
Okanogan County Sheriff’s deputies teamed up with federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents to serve search warrants on Oct. 2 on two residences in the Methow Valley in search of stolen explosives, said Dave Rodriguez, chief criminal deputy.
The investigation was connected to a July 20 incident during which Jefferson, 23, was arrested for illegal possession of an explosive device — a stick of dynamite — and booked into jail.
The dynamite was found in Jefferson’s vehicle, which was parked next to the Methow Valley Family Practice medical clinic on Second Avenue in Twisp. Also found in the vehicle were an empty box of blasting caps and a firearm.
Subsequent investigation by Sgt. Gene Davis of the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Department and ATF agents determined that the single stick of dynamite was part of a larger shipment missing from a Marblemount construction contractor’s inventory, Rodriguez said.
On Oct. 2, officers simultaneously served warrants at a residence in the Sun Mountain Ranch housing development and another residence on Twin Lakes Road outside of Winthrop. The search found blasting caps, detonation cord and information linking these items to the missing inventory out of Marblemount.
Rodriguez said Jefferson led authorities to a location on Little Bridge Creek off Twisp River Road where four sticks of dynamite were buried.
Jefferson was charged with five counts of possession of an explosive device as well as three counts of possession of a controlled drug — methamphetamine and heroin. He is being held on $30,000 bail.
“Dynamite and meth shouldn’t even be in the same sentence,” Rodriguez said.
ATF is continuing investigations into the missing dynamite, he said.
