Crime & Safety

Final Brecksville Bridge Bomb Plotter Joshua Stafford Found Guilty

Our partners at WEWS News Channel 5 report that Stafford was convicted on three counts.

The fifth suspect in the Brecksville bomb plot was found guilty on two counts of using weapons of mass destruction and one count of explosions materials, our partner at WEWS News Channel 5 reports.

Joshua Stafford represented himself during the three-day trial. He will be sentenced on Sept. 11. 

Stafford is the last of the suspects to be found guilty in a plot to destroy a bridge in Brecksville that runs over Cuyahoga Valley National Park. 

“This defendant took it upon himself to operate the cell phone he believed to be the device that would detonate two IED devices and cause potentially significant damage to the Route 82 Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge,” said Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the Cleveland FBI. 

“This defendant’s callous disregard for our community, all in the name of making his own ideological views known, reinforces the need for law enforcement to work diligently to confront and stop terrorists from committing violent acts against our fellow citizens," Anthony said. 

The four other defendants pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction and malicious use of an explosive device to destroy property used in interstate commerce.

  • Douglas L. Wright, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison
  • Brandon L. Baxter, of Lakewood, Ohio, was sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison
  • Connor C. Stevens, of Berea, Ohio, was sentenced to eight years and one month in prison
  • Anthony M. Hayne, 35, of Cleveland, was sentenced to six years in prison 

Read the article at WEWS News Channel 5.  


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