A man named Joel Ryals was arrested in Mississippi this week after local law enforcement found all sorts of military-grade explosives at his Florida home. They were tipped off by someone who noticed a package at his home which said “C-4 explosive” on the side. Ryals was later arrested while conducting a K-9 training for cops… that he apparently wasn’t certified to teach.
“Joel Ryals has a checkered law enforcement past, however, there is absolutely no reason for him to have this equipment,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. “The military-grade explosives, materials to build bombs, and tactical equipment found in his possession are extremely dangerous. Although he posed no immediate threat to our community, he certainly could have used them for the wrong reasons.”
Ryals’ K-9 training website is full of religious language, and that’s hardly surprising since he allegedly also spent a year and a half working as a Public Safety Officer at the Creation Museum.
He stopped working there in January of 2017, though it’s unclear if he left on his own or if he was fired. The Creation Museum didn’t response to a request for comment.
As we know all too well by now, though, the mixture of fundamentalist religious beliefs and lethal weapons (or at least the ingredients for them) is a dangerous combination. Who knows what his plans were.
(Screenshot via ABC Action News. Thanks to Dan for the link)