A New Mexico man has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after being convicted of possessing a pipe bomb at a church playground, the New Mexico’s District Attorney’s Office announced.

The Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department arrested Nathan Wallace, 41, in 2023, after a deputy witnessed Wallace on the grounds of East Mesa Baptist Church in Las Cruces. Wallace was seen placing several items into a black bag next to a gray 8-inch long galvanized pipe, according to KFOX14.

During questioning, Wallace admitted that he had a metal pipe containing gunpowder, the DA’s Office said. The device was then seized by law enforcement and a bomb team confirmed it to be an operational pipe bomb with a fuse inside, according to the DA’s Office.

When police asked Wallace why he had this on him, he told them that “they were randomly placed inside his backpack,” KFOX14 reported.

Additionally, police found a 20-gauge Winchester AA High Strength shotgun shell, a motion sensor, two cell phones, and various modified batteries and wires in Wallace’s belongings, the DA’s Office said. 

Wallace is prohibited by federal law from handling or possessing firearms or ammunition due to previous felony convictions, the DA’s Office noted.

In 2006, he was convicted of possession of explosive or incendiary device, possession of explosive or incendiary device conspiracy, receipt, transportation or possession of a firearm or destructive device by a felon and shoplifting, according to New Mexico Court records. A year before this, he was convicted of shoplifting, additional court records show.

In Wallace’s 2023 sentencing, he confessed to knowingly possessing ammunition illegally in a plea agreement, the DA’s Office said.

Wallace also admitted to police that he use meth shortly before being arrested in 2023, a local news station reported. Wallace described himself as a heavy meth user.

Wallace was not ultimately convicted of meth possession by the DA’s office.

Wallace has no option for parole during his four-year sentence, the DA’s office noted. After his release from prison, Wallace will have three years of supervised release.

When Wallace was arrested last year, Stephen Kovach, interim pastor of East Mesa at that time, told KFOX14 that the church’s neighborhood is a “fairly impoverished area.” He added, “We run into people that are troubled, and we try to help them.”

East Mesa Baptist Church regularly serves in the surrounding community by sponsoring a food pantry and giving away donated household items, according to the church’s website.

Pastor Kovach told reporters that the church has “plenty of security” but he also relies on God’s protection. He continued, “We have cameras, we have other things, we have an alarm system. So, we’re pretty well protected.”

The Roys Report (TRR) reached out the East Mesa for further comment but did not hear back prior to publication.

Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart told KFOX14 that Wallace’s arrest was not related to two unsolved bombings at Las Cruces churches back in 2015. The FBI is continuing to investigate those incidents.

Liz Lykins is a correspondent covering religious news for The Roys Report, WORLD Magazine, and other publications.