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At a recent Trump campaign event in Walker, Michigan, a man evidently decided that three hots and a cot were better than living in the outside world and gathered up some C-4 and headed to the campaign stop.
Police say a man claimed to have a bomb outside a rally for former President Donald Trump in metro Grand Rapids and that he insisted it was the “real deal” — though it was not.
Steven William Nauta, 65, of Sand Lake, MI was stopped at a police checkpoint near where Trump was campaigning where he was told he couldn't go any further. Nauta then held up a bottle of C4 explosive and told the officers it was the real deal.
The Walker Police Department said Nauta was stopped Friday after driving around the barricades at the checkpoint outside Trump’s rally at Falk Production in Walker and told he couldn’t go any farther. A court document alleges he then “held up a bottle to police and stated that it was ‘C4’ explosive and that it was the ‘real deal.'”
Nauta than sped off past the checkpoint where he was ultimately stopped by the police in a parking lot where he exited the car and threw bags of fertilizer on the ground in an attempt to make police believe he had explosives.
Authorities say Nauta “sped off” past the checkpoint, ignoring police orders. Police say he didn’t stop right away when they gave chase, was slowed by Walker police and came to a stop in the parking lot of a neighboring business.
“When (Nauta) finally stopped, he removed bags of fertilizer from his vehicle and threw them on the ground to make it appear that they were explosives while disobeying officers’ commands,” the court document reads.
Police said they told Nauta to get down on the ground, but he disobeyed them when he was told to stay there. He was ultimately arrested.
“(Nauta) said that he intended to make officers, and others, believe he had explosives,” the document reads in part.
No one was hurt and Nauta did not make it as far as Falk’s property, police said.
Prosecutor Chris Becker said it appears alarming when someone is charged with a bomb possession charge but it does not mean they actually had a bomb.
Acknowledging the name of the bomb possession charge is alarming, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker explained it does not mean Nauta actually had a bomb.
“He had materials that could be used, when put together with other materials, that could be used to make a bomb,” Becker told News 8. “It’s not like there was an active bomb in the car that he was heading towards the rally with.”
That material, the judge said in court, was fertilizer.
When asked in court if he could hear the judge in the video arraignment and understood the charges against him and his rights, the defendant made hand gestures toward the judge and removed his shirt responding when told of his one million bond that it was a cruel world out there and he'd would be better off where he was at.
As he appeared in a Grandville courtroom via video linkup from a jail cell Monday afternoon, Steven William Nauta, 65, of Sand Lake, acknowledged he could hear the judge and that he understood the charges against him and his rights.
He held his head down for the majority of his arraignment. At one point, he made profane hand gestures, but apologized when the judge warned him not to do so again. As the judge explained his bond decision, Nauta took his shirt off.
“Well, your honor, given my situation, I think I’m better off just staying in here,” Nauta said after he learned bond was set at $1 million. “Very cruel world out there. Probably a lot better off here.”
As insane as it sounded, if one is looking to get the maximum amount of prison stay with the least amount of harm, grabbing up a couple bags of fertilizer and taunting the police with them near a campaign stop of a presidential candidate will get you there. He's now facing up to twenty years in prison.