Man pleads guilty in federal court to conspiracy to bomb his brother’s home

A Dixon man pleaded guilty Monday in a Sacramento federal court to conspiracy to bomb his brother’s Suisun City home in 2018.

Thomas Wayne Capenhurst pleaded to the conspiracy charge and malicious use of explosive materials, McGregor W. Scott, U.S. Attorney for the Easter District of California, said in a press release.

According to court documents, Capenhurst offered to pay co- defendant Robert McGraw and another man $10,000 each to place pipe bombs at his brother’s Blue Jay Drive house.

According to the plea agreement, on Feb. 17, 2018,

McGraw walked to the front door of a home just before 1 a.m. and set one of the pipe bombs on the front porch. He lit the fuse, then ran.

A f ter ward, the pipe bomb detonated, blowing the front door off its hinges. Pieces of metal shrapnel were lodged in the home’s exterior walls and windows were broken nearby. Court documents indicated that a family of five was active inside the home, having just returned from a trip to the Bay Area. No one was injured.

This case stems from an investigation by the Suisun City Police Department, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI’s Solano County Violent Crimes Task Force. Also aiding the investigation were the Vacaville, Fairfield Vallejo and Benicia police departments, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, and the California Highway Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Pearson leads the prosecution.

A status conference has been set for McGraw on Oct. 5. Capenhurst is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimberley J. Mueller on Jan. 4.

Capenhurst faces a penalty of not less than five years, and up to 20 years, in prison, and a $250,000 fine for malicious use of explosive materials, and a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy.