A Silver Creek man pleaded guilty to planting a homemade grenade at a Coosa convenience store in federal court on Mon-day.

On April 24, 2008, Richard Aubrey Garrett III, 36, left the homemade bomb at the Kangaroo convenience store, near Coosa High School, on Alabama Highway.

According to police and information presented in court, the clerk at the Kangaroo convenience store called in the report after finding a grenade in the garbage can.

The clerk called 911 and a bomb recovery and disposal unit responded recovering the bomb using a robot to detonate it at a safe distance, said Floyd County Police Department Capt. Tom Ewing.

The device was a training grenade and filled with black powder, taped together, with a fuse coming out of the top.

“It was functional,” Ewing said. “They would have had to light it with a lighter.”

During the incident, police were forced to detour traffic on Ga. 20 for 45 minutes and shut down the road completely for another 30 minutes.

Once the bomb was disposed of, the community was very helpful in leading police to Garrett, Ewing said. Garrett was already in the Floyd County Jail on an unrelated charge.

He admitted to leaving the device in the store but has never given a motive for leaving the bomb.

He pleaded guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of a bomb and illegal possession of a bomb and faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $500,000.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 29, 2010, at 1:30 p.m., be-fore U.S. District Judge Harold L. Murphy.

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