The soldier arrested last year after setting off an explosive in a field near Fort Polk, Louisiana, will spend 11 years in prison, according to a Monday release from the Justice Department.
A judge sentenced Pfc. Ryan Keith Taylor, 24, for manufacturing, possessing and detonating a chemical weapon in the national forest next to the Louisiana installation, the release said.
“Today’s sentence holds Taylor accountable for his crime and makes clear that we will not tolerate such conduct,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in the release.
Taylor pleaded guilty on June 11 to detonating a chlorine bomb in the Kisatchie National Forest on April 12, 2017. Three soldiers who were training nearby heard the explosion and found Taylor filming the scene.
Fort Polk military police officers were injured during the initial investigation, according to the DoJ release.
“One investigator filled a plastic bag with a rock coated in an unknown substance,” the release said. “The bag immediately popped and the investigator’s plastic gloves and boots began to melt. He also began to experience difficulty breathing and his skin started burning.”
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A subsequent search of Taylor’s car, apartment and storage unit found chemical weapon-making supplies and residue.
“The two victims who inhaled the chlorine gas were treated multiple times for their injuries and effectively ended their military careers,” the release said.
Taylor’s sentence includes five years of supervised release following his prison sentence.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
