A Pell City contractor pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal explosives storage and record-keeping charges over a year and half after his botched demolition of the smokestack at historic Avondale Mills in Pell City.

Contractor Timothy Manley Phifer pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor, according to an announcement by acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Special Agent in Charge Steven L. Gerido. Phifer is scheduled for sentencing on Aug.14. 

THE DEMOLITION

On Nov. 24, 2015, Phifer’s initial attempts to topple the 2.6 million-pound brick tower with two 16-pound dynamite charges proved unsuccessful. The inner core of the smokestack was composed of interlaced bricks mortared by concrete—the charges only caused it to fall into the central chamber, reinforcing the structure.

Phifer, 54, then decided to try using a city-owned track hoe to chip away at its base. Following more than an hour of effort, the stack collapsed—burying him in the cab of the machine to the shock of spectators.

“I remember being halfway across the field just looking at him,” Phifer’s daughter, Allie, recalled. “I had to stop and I was like, ‘I don’t know if he made it and I can’t make it that much closer.'”

The Pell City resident walked away from the incident with only minor injuries and soot stains.

THE INVESTIGATION

Following national circulation of video footage from the failed implosion, the Alabama Fire Marshal’s Office launched an investigation into Phifer and his business, Phoenix Services of Alabama, LLC.

Prior to being contracted by Pell City to remove the more than 100-year-old structure, Phoenix Services had its federal explosives license personally verified by City Manager Brian Muenger with the ATF, according to a statement released by Muenger on Dec. 4, 2015.

However, the Fire Marshal’s investigation revealed Phifer, while federally licensed, to be unlicensed by the state of Alabama to perform the demolition—his state explosives permit was no longer valid.

The city’s contract with Phifer, approved Nov. 9, 2015, for $14,500, expressly required compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including license maintenance. The city was also released from any damages.

The invalid permit led to further investigation, now including the ATF, and the discovery of evidentiary materials resulting in Phifer’s arrest and current convictions—one count of failing to record the acquisition of explosives and one count of improperly storing explosives.

THE PLEA AGREEMENT

According to Phifer’s plea agreement, while federally permitted to receive and use explosives, he failed to record the receipt of Austin Powder 50-grain and 25-grain detonating cord in a timely manner between Sept. 10, 2014, and Dec. 2, 2014.

Phifer also failed to to properly store the detonating cord at the Avondale Mills demolition site, as discovered by investigators on Dec. 4, 2015.

Five feet of Austin Powder 50-grain detonation cord was found in an unlocked and unattended explosives magazine on a flatbed utility trailer at the site, along with a 3-foot section of 50-grain detonator cord and a 2-foot section of Austin Powder 25-grain detonator cord on the ground nearby.

Ensuing warranted searches by investigators—the plea agreement also states—revealed more unsecured detonator cord in Phifer’s truck, as well as in his bedroom and in the garage at his parents’ Pell City home. An improperly stored APC Shock Star non-electric detonator was found as well in the home’s garage.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William G. Simpson. Phifer faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for failure to record acquisition of explosives, as well as one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for improper storage of explosives, a misdemeanor.