Onarga Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Possession of a Bomb
URBANA, Ill. / Thursday, February 26, 2026 – An Onarga, Illinois, man, James R. Nelson, 40, was sentenced on February 23, 2026, to five years in federal prison, to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release, for possession of an unregistered destructive device, or a bomb in April 2025.
A federal grand jury returned a single-count indictment against Nelson in July 2025. He pleaded guilty in October 2025.
At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce, the government played the body camera of the Iroquois County (Illinois) Sheriff’s Office detective who encountered Nelson during a routine traffic stop. Although the detective advised Nelson that he had a warrant for his arrest on an unrelated charge, Nelson refused to exit the car, forcing the detective to reach into the car and attempt to remove him. As the officer did so, Nelson reached into the back seat and pulled out a gray cylindrical device, telling the detective it was a bomb.
Nelson refused to relinquish the bomb and instead sprinted through residential neighborhoods in Onarga with the bomb in his hand while attempting to escape. He made it to his mother’s house, where he barricaded himself for approximately eight hours while police attempted to get him to surrender. Law enforcement eventually forced their way into an attic where Nelson was hiding and arrested him. They found the device, which analysis later revealed to be a functional bomb, near where Nelson was apprehended.
The statutory penalty for possession of an unregistered destructive device is up to ten years of imprisonment, followed by up to three years of supervised release.
The Iroquois County Sheriff’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Field Office, investigated the case, with assistance from Kankakee County (Illinois) Emergency Response Team and the East Central Illinois Bomb Squad. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Freres represented the United States in the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of Illinois
