BELLA VISTA, Ark. — A Bella Vista man accused of making pipe bombs and attempting to flee the country on an inflatable kayak has been indicted in federal court.
Lawrence Hickman, 52, was arrested in Washington and extradited to Arkansas. He was booked into the Benton County Jail on Dec. 21 with a $1 million bond for six charges of criminal possession of explosive materials or a destructive device. He pleaded not guilty to those charges and has a pretrial hearing scheduled for June 20, 2024.
Now, on top of the state charges, Hickman faces federal charges as well.
In the indictment, filed March 6, he faces multiple counts of possessing and making destructive devices unregistered by the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
On March 27, Hickman pleaded not guilty to those counts. His federal jury trial has been set for May 20, 2024, at 9 a.m. in Fayetteville.
Police were first called to Hickman's Northwest Arkansas residence on Dec. 9 for a harassment call. Upon arrival, police discovered what appeared to be six homemade pipe bombs. Hickman was nowhere to be found.
The Bentonville Police Department Bomb Squad was contacted about the situation and neighbors were evacuated for safety reasons. Police found six bombs in total, each of which was X-rayed and found to be live.
Court documents said a neighbor told police that Hickman wanted to travel by kayak to the Philippines. The neighbor told police the bombs were for sharks and pirates.
The neighbor told police that he was with Hickman the day that he left and that his vehicle was packed with multiple inflatable kayaks, a flare gun, a bow and arrows, military rations, 15 to 20 two-liter bottles of Coca-Cola, Jim Beam, and two teddy bears that he bought for his wife to be his "co-pilots" on the trip, according to the affidavit.
On Dec. 13, police were advised that Hickman was arrested in Pacific County, Washington. Multiple weapons were found with him.
December report:
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.