Two plead guilty in probe tied to church bombing

Two men pleaded guilty this week in connection to an explosives investigation that may be connected to the bombing of a Stockton church and a neighborhood evacuation, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office announced.

James Towles, 51, and Russell Altheide, 65, pleaded guilty Monday to several charges relating to explosives after a bomb was thrown at HisWay Church Jan. 8 as a celebration of life was taking place inside. No one was injured in the incident, which was caught on surveillance video, but the building sustained some damage, the DA’s Office said in a news release.

The next day, San Joaquin County Sheriff’s deputies tried to pull Towles over in connection with an investigation into the attack. He led deputies on a chase and ultimately crashed the vehicle into a truck; deputies searching his car discovered an explosive device and called out the bomb squad to disarm it. Towles was taken into custody.

The San Joaquin Explosive Ordnance Disposal team and the FBI discovered substances and materials used to manufacture explosive devices during a search of a home connected to Towles. The house belonged to Altheide.

Towles pleaded guilty to two felony counts reckless possession of an explosive device and one misdemeanor count hit-and-run and was sentenced to 6 years as a split term, with three years in the County Jail and three years on community supervision.

Altheide pleaded guilty to one felony count of possession of ingredients to make a bomb and was sentenced to five months in the County Jail and two years’ probation.