Houston Man Aaron Schneck Sent To Prison For Six Years For Planning To Blow Up Confederate Statue
A Houston man has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for attempting to blow up a Confederate statue in Houston’s Hermann Park last year, according to Chron.
Aaron Schneck, 26, was arrested last year when a park ranger saw him kneeling near the statue of Confederate Commander Richard Dowling. On inspection, the park ranger found two small boxes in the bushes near the statue, which contained several items used to make explosives. According to officials, the boxes contained a homemade detonator, a timer, wiring, a battery, a bottle of nitroglycerin and an explosive organic compound known as HMTD, or hexamethylene triperoxide diamine.
Upon being caught, Schneck, who is believed to suffer from some behavioral disabilities, attempted to drink some of the liquid explosives but then spit them onto the ground.
The park ranger notified the Houston Police Department, which promptly arrested Schneck. During the investigation, officers found out about the young man’s previous brush with the law, having been arrested for storing explosives in his apartment back in 2014. Prosecutors said that the Austin Fire Department was called on the scene on that occasion, finally leading to a five-year probationary period for Schneck.
But Schneck’s probationary period ended earlier for good behavior, and ten months after being released from probation, the 26-year-old man was caught attempting to blow up the Confederate statue.
Man sentenced to 6 years in prison for trying to blow up confederate statue https://t.co/tZuALxLBGu pic.twitter.com/nt7LSjvy7Z
— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) August 18, 2018
When officers searched his parents’ upscale house in Southampton Palace, which is where Schneck stayed at the time of last year’s incident, they found a number of high-powered explosive devices, leading the judge to note that the Houston man seems to have an uncanny affinity to explosives, which cannot be ignored in favor of public safety.
“The high-risk conduct of the defendant has now, on two occasions, endangered the public,” Judge Ewing Werlein said during Schneck’s sentencing. “You cannot count always on getting maximum leniency. You have got to reform your conduct.”
Schneck has a degree in chemistry from Austin College in Sherman and has since had an unusual penchant for making explosives, prosecutors said in the court, even as his lawyer Philip Hilder argued that his actions are in part a result of Schneck’s behavioral disabilities.
The bombing, which was thwarted by the park ranger last year, happened at a time when a wave of protests surrounding civic monuments that venerate Confederate heroes had engulfed the nation.
Apart from spending more than six years in prison, Schneck has also been ordered to pay a fine of $10,000. He would be considered for a supervised early release if he doesn’t come in contact with chemical agents again.
