Former felon allegedly found with blasting cap, gun powder

Agents for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Drugs, Firearms and Explosives visited Custer County this week after sheriff’s deputies allegedly found a blasting cap and gunpowder in a vehicle stopped for not having a working tag light.
A call to the Dallas office of ATF to find out what the federal agents found, if anything, had not been returned at press time Friday.
The driver of the vehicle, Terry Ray, 51, of rural Putnam, was being held on bonds exceeding $50,000. The charges included possession of explosives and possession of drugs.
Sheriff Kenneth Tidwell said Ray was stopped by Deputy Dylan King at two minutes before midnight last Saturday on U.S. Highway 183 two miles north of Arapaho.
Upon approaching the vehicle, King also noticed that the license plate had expired in October of 2016. A further check indicated it had actually been assigned to another vehicle.
Tidwell said Ray was arrested at that time. During a pat-down for weapons, King also found a Marlboro box with a substance in it which subsequently tested positive for methamphetamine.
Ray made statements that he was wanting to hurt himself so King called Deputy Quinton Short for assistance.
Short asked the suspect if there was anything in his vehicle that should not be there, and Ray allegedly said he had a blasting cap and gunpowder.
The two officers backed off at that point, and Tidwell said the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Bomb Squad was contacted. “They came out and secured the blasting cap and took possession of it,” said the sheriff.
“My understanding is an OHP bomb technician then contacted ATF.”
A couple of federal agents arrived the next day. Tidwell did not know what alI they searched nor whether they found anything additional or not.
Asked if the blasting cap his deputies found was a large one, the sheriff said, “It was big enough we called the OHP bomb techs to come out and make everything safe.”
Ray’s new county charges are possession of a controlled dangerous substance – after former conviction of two or more felonies, possession of explosives by a convicted felon, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving with license suspended or cancelled.