By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TRENTON — A man facing six weapons and explosives charges for allegedly placing bombs in the city in April 2011 and phoning in a bomb threat to Trenton High School is expected to enter a plea agreement in U.S. District Court on Aug. 29.
John Robert Kennedy was charged in July 2011 by a grand jury indictment after allegedly placing two bombs in the city, one in the high school parking lot and the other near a hardware store on Van Horn Road.
Court officer Rod Hansen said, Kennedy is expected to enter a plea before U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O’Meara. No further details were available. A previous trial date for May was postponed at the request of prosecutors who said that the charges were complex and required expert testimony.
Kennedy was arrested after allegedly making a bomb threat to the school on April 28. Investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with Michigan State and Trenton police, traced the phone call to a cellular telephone purchased in Woodhaven. Security footage from the store parking lot provided a vehicle description, and Kennedy was located in a Flat Rock mobile home.
Kennedy has a criminal history in Michigan dating back to 1991 that includes five felony convictions; he was charged with being a felon in possession of firearms and as a repeat offender.
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected])