Charges have been filed against the suspect taken into custody following an explosion reported at an Odessa residence on Monday, May 4.

Law enforcement was dispatched at 3:39 p.m. to an apartment building located on East Otway in reference to an explosion reported inside the building. Officers with Odessa Police arrived at the scene and removed the sole tenant, identified as Stanley Box. Police note Box is a convicted felon for weapon law violations. Officers also noted a chemical smell coming from the residence.

Extensive damage was reported for the apartment, with many doors and exterior windows being blown out. Spire Gas was called to the scene and confirmed there was no gas leak in or around the apartment that exploded. Investigators with the Missouri State Fire Marshal’s Office, Lafayette County Drug Task Force, Missouri State Highway Patrol Bomb Squad, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI searched the residence and discovered that Box was attempting to make improvised explosive devices at the time of the explosion. Box admitted to authorities he was making a “big firework.”

Investigators located methamphetamine, several glass pipes with methamphetamine residue, and numerous firearms with ammunition in the residence. The Patrol’s Bomb Squad also located numerous chemicals used to make explosive devices and advised that they were illegal when combined together. Numerous beakers, measuring cups, packing tools, electric fuses, and an electric mixing and heating tool was also found.

Box is facing two felony counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and one count of unlawful manufacture of an illegal weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and unlawful use of a weapon. No bond has been allowed. Court arrangements are pending at Lafayette County Circuit Court.