PUEBLO, Colo.—A man who was arrested after police found ingredients for explosives in his home first came under investigation over questions raised by an audit, according to court documents.
After an 18-month investigation, James Burton Crippin, 54, was arrested Wednesday on a warrant for possession of explosives. He was freed on $35,000 bail. He has declined to comment.
According to an arrest affidavit, authorities recovered ingredients and materials used to make pipe bombs in his garage. District Attorney Bill Thiebaut said officers were following a tip.
Crippin, a former Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensics analyst, was the lab director of the Western Forensic Law Enforcement Training Center at Colorado State University-Pueblo from the day it opened in 2003, but he left a year ago “to pursue other opportunities,” the school said.
The center was funded by a grant from the Justice Department, but funding has ended. It is set to close later this month.
Thiebaut said his office began investigating Crippin after Colorado State University-Pueblo officials alerted him that an audit of the training center showed questionable expenditures.
No charges related to the audit have been filed.
The audit covered financial transactions from Sept. 1, 2003, to Dec. 31, 2006, according to a search warrant by John Baker, an investigator with the district attorney’s office.
The search warrant said the audit showed Crippin bought $39,120 worth of items from Forensic Products and Services Inc., which is owned by his wife. Court documents say $7,710 of that was “improperly charged” to “a federal grant account.”
The purchased items were offered elsewhere at cheaper prices, the affidavit said.
There were also questions about travel expenses relating to trips Crippin took, sometimes to teach or train outside groups.
The affidavit alleges Crippin received travel fare and other expenses of at least $2,677 from CSU-Pueblo after having received payment from other sources, and that it was unclear whether Crippin reimbursed the university for those payments.
The affidavit said Crippin’s salary was paid entirely from grant accounts. “Therefore, anytime that Mr. Crippin was paid by the university for days that he was not on any type of leave status indicates that he was working on the grant during those times,” it said.
Authorities said Crippin failed to maintain reports that were required when he was paid by outside companies.
