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Explosives scare traced to Afton man

By By Chase Purdy, The News Virginian
Published: November 10, 2009

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State authorities found black powder, grenades, guns and mortar rounds in an Afton man’s home after a scare on Delphine Avenue in Waynesboro, according to court records.

Authorities armed with search warrants rifled through two properties belonging to Mark S. Bales, 51, after the Waynesboro Police Department connected a suspicious drug package with a metal pipe sticking out of the side to him, according to a search warrant in Augusta County Circuit Court. Police closed the street Nov. 2 after finding the package.

Virginia state police Special Agent Robert W. Henderson obtained a search warrant for 25 Old Stony Ridge Road in Afton a short time later. Authorities last week found dozens of items, including grenades, guns, eight computers, jugs filled with black and aluminum powder, four mortar rounds and fireworks, according to the warrant.

Henderson also found six videotapes with footage of Bales instructing viewers how he uses the explosives, frequently inserting them into stuffed animals. In the videos Bales proceeds to blow the toys to smithereens, according to Henderson’s report in the warrant.

Investigators collected other stuffed animals at Bales’ Afton property.

Authorities also searched 1555 Mt. Torrey Road in Lyndhurst where they found pistol blanks, trip wire devices, rifle and shotgun barrels and different colored wires, the warrant shows.

Neither Henderson nor Bales’ defense attorney, Thomas Weidner of Waynesboro, could be reached for comment.