Man pleads guilty to bomb charge

FORT SMITH — A River Valley man pleaded guilty to three felony charges in U.S. District Court on Thursday after federal agents said they found an explosive device in his home earlier this year.

Neil Ravi Mehta of Fort Smith waived his right to indictment by a grand jury and pleaded guilty to information filed by the U.S. government at a hearing Thursday. The information charged Mehta with one count each of possession of a destructive device, fraud and false statements and false declarations before a court.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark E. Ford said Mehta’s three charges came with a combined maximum sentence of 18 years in prison, along with fines, restitution and supervised release following his time in prison.

Mehta, 31, was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service ahead of his sentencing hearing. A date for the hearing hasn’t been set yet.

Mehta pleaded innocent during his arraignment March 9 to one count each of possession of an unregistered destructive device and possession of a destructive device unidentified by serial number, court records state. He had been indicted on those charges March 8 and faced a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum fine of $250,000, both on each count, if convicted.

Mehta was arrested Feb. 6 in Austin, Texas, on charges related to possessing an improvised bomb that wasn’t registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record as required by law, according to a Feb. 7 news release from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Arkansas. His arrest happened at the end of a six-day nationwide manhunt.

Mehta was initially charged in a criminal complaint filed Jan. 31 with one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device.