A St. Paul man has been arrested for allegedly placing a homemade IED outside Ramsey County Courthouse in St. Paul on Dec. 20, 2021, according to court documents.
Dolores Christopher Alvarado, 30, is reportedly responsible for making an explosive device and placing it in front of the county courthouse because he had “issues with Ramsey County,” the documents say.
Ramsey County Sheriff’s Deputies and St. Paul police officers were notified about a suspicious-looking package found by maintenance staff outside the courthouse entrance doors on Dec. 20 at around 7 a.m.
The building and area were evacuated after police arrived on the scene, and the St. Paul Police Bomb Squad were dispatched to the area where they were able to recover the device.
Court documents say that the device had various liquids, a pressure plate, and wiring inside it that “closely resembled and had the appearance of an IED.”
The St. Paul Police Department took the device into custody and began working almost immediately with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force to find Alvarado.
Investigators obtained surveillance footage of who they would later identify as Alvarado driving up to the courthouse and leaving what appeared to be a “suspicious device” in front of the courthouse doors.
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The documents go on to say that this was the same device retrieved by the St. Paul Police department and placed into evidence.
On the same day, police were notified of a domestic assault that took place between Alvarado and a female identified in the documents as his partner.
While investigating the assault, police were informed by the female that Alvarado had used her vehicle that morning, the same vehicle investigators saw in the surveillance footage.
After collecting evidence and matching Alvarado’s sweatshirt and phone to those seen in the video, he was arrested.
Alvarado was questioned by investigators on Dec. 23, when he admitted to making the device and leaving it outside of the courthouse on Dec. 20.
Alvarado was booked for an outstanding warrant he had, domestic assault charges, and multiple terroristic threat charges, according to the documents.
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