IONIA COUNTY, Mich. (WLNS) — Newly obtained court records paint a far more alarming picture of the weapons and explosives authorities say they found at the home of an Ionia County corrections officer whose backyard blasts have terrorized neighbors for years.
An eight-page transcript from a Saturday, Feb. 21 probable cause conference in 64A District Court shows detectives recovered 196 firearms, homemade explosive devices, an under-barrel grenade launcher and stolen prison munitions from the home of Casey Wagner, 41, during a Feb. 20 search.
Previous report: Ionia corrections officer facing meth, felony firearm charges
Wagner, an arsenal sergeant at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility, is currently charged with possession of methamphetamine and felony firearm. As WLNS-TV previously reported, Wagner’s neighbors say they have endured nearly four years of explosions and gunfire just yards from their homes, turning one woman’s property into what she described as a “prison.”
Now, the new court records are raising questions about how the situation was allowed to escalate for so long.
Detective: 196 guns, bomb materials and stolen prison gear
In the transcript, Det. Sgt. Phillip Hesche of the Ionia County Sheriff’s Office told a district court magistrate that deputies, detectives and the Michigan State Police bomb squad executed a search warrant around 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 20 at Wagner’s home in Ionia Township…