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Wyoming Man Gets 3 Years for Stealing Explosives

Budd James Nesius stole the explosives from the USFS in 2013

By Justin Franz

BILLINGS — A Wyoming man who stole more than 550 pounds of explosives from a U.S. Forest Service bunker near Red Lodge, Montana says he never intended to scare anyone.

Thirty-three-year-old Budd James Nesius of Wheatland apologized for the fear the theft caused in federal court in Billings Thursday before being sentenced to three years in prison.

The Billings Gazette reports that Nesius told Judge Susan Watters that he got excited when he saw the bunker while looking for a place to camp in 2013. He says he stole the explosives for the thrill of it, saying “Call it a ‘guy thing’.”

Nesius pleaded guilty in August.

Authorities said he drove the explosives to Wheatland, stored them in a travel trailer and later convinced his brother to dispose of the material.