Utah Man Indicted on Hate Crime Charge After Six Pipe Bombs Found at Ogden Home

A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City has indicted a 22 year old Ogden man on charges that include attempting to commit a hate crime, after investigators said they found six improvised explosive pipe bombs at his home and posts online threatening to blow up a synagogue.

Skyler AJ Rose was indicted on October 21, the Justice Department announced on Thursday, Oct. 22. The charges include possession of an unregistered destructive device, threatening to kill or injure people and to destroy a building with an explosive, and attempting to commit a hate crime, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah said. Rose is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court on Friday, Oct. 23, at 1:30 p.m. in courtroom 8.4 at the Orrin G. Hatch U.S. Courthouse in Salt Lake City. He has not entered a plea.

Threats posted in December

According to allegations in court documents, a user on a social media platform made multiple threatening posts on Dec. 23, 2025. One post said, "I wanna blow up a synagogue." Investigators traced the posts to an internet address at the home where Rose lived. The FBI contacted the Ogden City Police Department for help visiting the home, and officers confirmed the social media account belonged to Rose, the Justice Department said.

Rose was arrested by local authorities last year as the threats were investigated, the Washington Examiner reported. Officers who first entered the home in December 2025 reported seeing what looked like a pipe bomb in his bedroom, according to local reporting at the time.

Six pipe bombs and two rifles

During a search carried out under a warrant, law enforcement recovered six improvised explosive pipe bombs and one inert device, the Justice Department said. Officers also found explosive precursors and components that could be used to build more pipe bombs, a black Samsung cellphone, and two rifles with magazines and ammunition. The department described the pipe bombs as functional.

A later search of the cellphone found that in November 2025 Rose had searched online for a synagogue near him, court documents say. The phone also allegedly contained child sexual abuse material, including hundreds of cached images and screenshots.

Prosecutors have not named a specific synagogue as a target. Ogden police said last year they had no evidence that any specific synagogue was targeted.

Officials say the threat was stopped early

"Today's indictment stops in its tracks an alleged plan to carry out a violent attack on a synagogue," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department Civil Rights Division. "The Department of Justice will take decisive action to protect American worshippers from violent threats, no matter where they occur."

U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak for the District of Utah said a place of worship should be a refuge of safety, not fear, and credited the FBI and local police for identifying the alleged threats before anyone was harmed. Robert Bohls, the special agent in charge of the FBI Salt Lake City field office, said the FBI takes every threat seriously.

The FBI Salt Lake City field office and the Ogden City Police Department investigated the case together, with help from the Utah Department of Public Safety, the Davis County and Weber County bomb squads, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Weber County Attorney Office. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney John Auchter is prosecuting.

An indictment is an allegation. Rose is presumed innocent unless he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.