Solano County Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Bomb a Suisun City Residence

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Thomas Wayne Capenhurst, 33, of Dixon, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy and malicious use of explosive materials, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, Capenhurst offered to pay co-defendant Robert McGraw and another man $10,000 each to place pipe bombs at his brother’s house in Suisun City.

According to the plea agreement, on Feb. 17, 2018, McGraw walked to the front door of a home on Blue Jay Drive in Suisun City, just before 1:00 a.m., and set one of the pipe bombs on the front porch. He lit the fuse and then ran. Afterwards, the pipe bomb detonated and blew the front door off its hinges. Pieces of metal shrapnel were lodged in the home’s exterior walls, and windows were broken nearby. Court documents state that a family of five was active inside the home, having just returned from a trip to the Bay Area.

This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Solano County Violent Crimes Task Force, and the Suisun City Police Department. Special assistance was provided by the Dixon Police Department, Fairfield Police Department, Vacaville Police Department, Vallejo Police Department, Benicia Police Department, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, and the California Highway Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Pearson is prosecuting the case.

A status conference has been set for McGraw on Oct. 5. Capenhurst is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimberley J. Mueller on Jan. 4, 2021. He faces a penalty of not less than five years, and up to 20 years, in prison, and a $250,000 fine for malicious use of explosive materials, and a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.