A soldier who served in Afghanistan and Iraq was indicted by a federal grand jury in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday for possessing an improvised explosive device, according to court records.
Joshua Colin Honigberg, 35, was charged with one count of unlawful possession of a destructive device found by FBI agents and local police officers when they executed a search warrant on his Austin apartment on May 29.
The IED was comprised of a plastic hard case locked in the closed position by a padlock. It contained multiple explosive charges with fusing systems and multiple pieces of metal fragmentation, an FBI agent said in a criminal complaint.
The components resulted in a viable explosive device, according to an FBI bomb technician cited in the document. The device was “capable of causing property damage and personal injuries and/or death to persons near the explosion,” the document reads.
An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also part of the task force that executed the warrant.
The ATF agent said in the complaint that there are no National Firearms Act weapons, including destructive devices, legally registered to Honigberg. A check of the Federal Licensing System also showed there is no record of an explosives license.
Why Honigberg had the device and whether he planned to use it to harm anyone was not detailed in the publicly available court records. It is also not clear what evidence was used to issue the search warrant on his residence.
Two public defenders representing Honigberg did not return a request for comment by Army Times on Thursday.
Honigberg joined the Army in 2004 as a cavalry scout and left the service in 2013 at the rank of staff sergeant, according to an Army official.
Honigberg deployed to Iraq for one year starting in December 2005, and again in January 2008. He also deployed to Afghanistan in June 2010, wrapping up three deployments before he left the service.
Honigberg’s arraignment is set for July 30 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Hightower in the Western District of Texas. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
A LinkedIn account for Honigberg states that he worked as a private military training instructor and advanced marksmanship instructor in the Fort Hood area after leaving the Army in 2013.
Kyle Rempfer was an editor and reporter who has covered combat operations, criminal cases, foreign military assistance and training accidents. Before entering journalism, Kyle served in U.S. Air Force Special Tactics and deployed in 2014 to Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq.
