Federal prosecutors take over case against Annapolis man with homemade explosives

Anne Arundel County prosecutors on Thursday relinquished their case against an Annapolis man charged with having more than 30 homemade explosive devices at his home to federal prosecutors.

Lee Scott Wygal Ralston, 37, was due in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court for a trial Thursday morning on state charges of possessing and manufacturing explosive devices, according to online court records.

Instead, Assistant State’s Attorney April Skrenczuk told the trial judge that county prosecutors were declining to prosecute the case further, citing a pending federal investigation.

Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said in a statement that her office agreed to “relinquish” the case to federal prosecutors “given the sheer number of devices found and the federal resources that were used in the investigation.”

“We believe that this is the best path forward,” Leitess said.

Criminal charges against Ralston do not yet appear in federal electronic court records. A spokesperson for the Maryland U.S. attorney’s office did not respond Thursday morning to a request for comment.

Ralston was arrested in April after a monthslong investigation into illegal nighttime hunting, Maryland Natural Resources Police said in a statement.

While searching Ralston’s home in the 1200 block of Blackwalnut Lane, police found “suspected explosive devices,” said the police agency charged with protecting fish and wildlife and enforcing laws on public lands and waterways.

Investigators found 32 homemade devices, some designed to be detonated remotely and some containing BBs or flash powder, according to charging documents.

At a bail hearing in April, Ralston’s attorney said Ralston originally had the explosive devices at a rural family property outside of Salisbury and that there was “zero evidence he intended to use these against anybody.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Kelly Scanlon said at that hearing that one of the devices would blow someone’s hand off if detonated while being held.

Ben Parker, an investigator with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said during the same hearing that the explosive devices were powerful enough to kill a person.

In early September, Micah Sam, a former lieutenant in the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office, was charged in connection with the case. An investigator from the Anne Arundel County Fire Department’s Fire Marshal Division wrote in charging documents that Sam provided explosive material to Ralston for the purpose of creating “destructive” devices.

Investigators said that Ralston texted his mother and his late ex-girlfriend about the source of the explosive material and told his mother that the officer was with the “Prince Georges County Sheriffs Department.” Sam was a customer of Ralston at a marina.

Sam resigned from his position in the department earlier this year after an internal investigation related to timekeeping, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. He was not employed there at the time of his arrest.

This story may be updated.