Cincinnati FBI leads bomb squad operation in Oxford; what court records show
A Mason man accused of creating unregistered explosive devices has been released from jail on bond. The FBI Cincinnati Field Office led joint operations last week related to the incident, including in Oxford where the suspect is alleged to have shipped materials.
Last week, the FBI Cincinnati Field Office's Joint Terrorism Task Force carried out a three-part operation in Oxford, Mason and Liberty Township after alleging that a Mason man had built an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) last September.
The operation, which included a bomb squad response on Brown Road in Oxford, centered on James River Phillips. According to a partially redacted complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio April 16, Phillips is accused of possession of an unregistered destructive device. The complaint alleges that he shipped materials used to build explosives to addresses in both Oxford and Mason.
Phillips is being represented by defense attorney Scott Croswell, FOX19 reported April 22. According to Fox19, Croswell has defended high-profile clients including an ex-Cincinnati Bengals player and a former Cincinnati City Council member.
During a detention hearing April 22, a judge ruled that Phillips could be released from jail on bond and live with his parents as “third-party custodians,” according to reporting by the Cincinnati Enquirer. Croswell argued that Phillips had permission from property owners to destroy several items which no longer worked with explosives “for fun,” the Enquirer reported.
A special agent with the FBI wrote in a sworn affidavit that the Lebanon Police Department (LPD) had discovered an IED in the parking lot of a soccer complex shortly after midnight Sept. 22, 2024. “The IED had wires running from a pile of white powder to a control switch,” the affidavit reads.
Using cellular data, the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team verified that a phone associated with Phillips was in the vicinity of the soccer complex at the time of the incident.
Videos pulled from the phone showed two unidentified males detonating an explosive in a parking lot on April 5, 2024. Additional photos and videos from July 21, 2024, showed an explosion followed by photos of “the destruction of a car that appeared to be destroyed from the explosion,” the affidavit alleges.
Amazon and bank account records show purchases of “precursor chemicals and materials for homemade explosives” as early as January 2024, according to the complaint. “The quantity/amount of the chemicals purchased far exceeds that which was found in the IED located by the LPD,” the affidavit reads.
The complaint alleges that a purpose-built shed behind Phillips’ address in Mason contained chemicals, glass beakers and other equipment and that “photos recovered from the iCloud appear to show that Phillips is making explosive devices in the shed.”
