TULALIP — A Tulalip man was sentenced Friday to two years of federal probation for dealing in explosives without a license.
Louie Roy Pablo Jr., 52, operated a fireworks stand at Boom City on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. During a search of the stand and a nearby storage container in 2009, investigators located hundreds of illegal fireworks, including commercial aerial display shells that are classified by federal laws as explosives. Agents seized about 750 illegal items, weighing about 323 pounds.
He kept dozens of the illegal fireworks in cardboard boxes under the stand’s front counter, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle.
The commercial grade shells are extremely dangerous and federal laws require them to be stored in an explosive bunker. Pablo didn’t have a federal fireworks license, and many of the shell he was selling from his stand had their warning labels blacked out.
In May, federal agents conducted a demonstration with the commercial display shells to test their power and simulate an accidental discharge while transporting the explosives. Ten shells were placed in the trunk of a car and detonated together. The explosion blew apart most of the car, according to authorities.
Pablo must serve four months of work release and two months of electronic home monitoring. He is prohibited from having any contact with fireworks for two years.
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