Chaparral man charged with stockpiling guns, homemade bomb components

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- 76-year-old Chaparral resident Frederick Urban was charged with illegally stockpiling firearms and explosives in Las Cruces Monday.

Urban appeared before a federal judge and will remain in jail until a detention hearing.

Court documents allege that Urban, a previously convicted felon, according to state officials, owned numerous firearms. When ATF agents, New Mexico State Police, and El Paso Police officers executed the federal search warrant on Saturday of Urban's house, they found guns, about 100,000 rounds of ammunition, magazines, gunpowder, the explosive triacetone triperoxide, homemade detonators, blasting caps, and other homemade bomb components, according to New Mexico officials.

Urban could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

ABC-7 spoke to neighbors in the area, with many telling us they never expected this to happen in their neighborhood.

One neighbor who did not wish to be identified told ABC-7 that surrounding neighbors should have been evacuated considering everything authorities found.

"That much rounds, the explosives that were found. Why take the chance with the people living around here? Why not just evacuate us? And they didn't do it? I mean, nobody talked to us. Nobody said anything to us," said the neighbor.