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Phoenix man sentenced to 15 years after planning to release radiological materials in Arizona
MCSO
and last updated 2021-03-04 19:40:53-05
PHOENIX â A Valley man has been sentenced to 15 years after he stabbed a man and then stole radiological devices that he planned to release in Scottsdale and Payson in 2019.
Police say the incident started after the suspect, identified as Jared Trent Atkins, stabbed a store clerk at a gas station near 32nd Street and Indian School Road Sunday, April 28. Authorities say the store clerk was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The suspect fled the scene, and at approximately 3 a.m. the next day, he went to his workplace near 40th Street and Broadway Road and stole three radiological devices containing Iridium-192 used in commercial applications, such as inspection and detection of welding imperfections in pipes. He also stole tools to open the devices and expose the radiological material.
The outcome for Atkins and others could have been much worse. He had several half-baked plans for the three Delta Projectors he stole, which are normally used to x-ray objects underground and contain iridium-192. Close-contact exposure to the material for just one hour would cause extreme pain and disfigurement, and for 50 percent of the victims, death within a month, federal court records state. Injuries can also occur with far briefer exposures. Atkins had the potential to endanger hundreds of lives.
Up until the incident, Atkins had been a law-abiding, successful young man a model of someone who had grown up with disadvantages and overcome them. Court records describe how he grew up in Gallup, New Mexico, facing societal rejection because he was half-Native American and half-Black, and became extremely close to his siblings, especially an older sister who was the prime caretaker of the household.