By Dan Nienaber

Free Press Staff Writer

BLUE EARTH — An 18-year-old Blue Earth man was arrested after police received a tip he was making a bomb in his apartment.

John Andrew Yahnke’s third-floor apartment at 220 E. Seventh St. was searched Monday night by police who allegedly found items used for making bombs, a Blue Earth Police Department report said.

Yahnke was arrested and jailed pending charges in Faribault County District Court.

Items found included two plastic bags labeled as ammonium nitrate and one bag labeled as sodium nitrate.

The officers searching the apartment contacted the Minnesota duty officer, who dispatched the Bloomington Police Bomb Squad. Two members of the Mankato Department of Public Safety Chemical Assessment Team also were sent to the scene at 7:06 p.m., according to Mankato Fire Department records.

In March 2006, members of a Yahnke family from nearby Frost were arrested after 114 explosive devices and 20 pounds of other explosives were found in their house. Those arrested included Marvin and Shirley Yahnke; their daughter, who wasn’t charged; and a 15-year-old son who wasn’t identified by police because he was a juvenile.

According to the criminal complaint filed against Marvin Yahnke, the boy arrested had the initials J.A.Y. and a June 19, 1990, birthday. John Andrew Yahnke’s birthday is June 19, 1990, according to the Blue Earth police report.

Marvin Yahnke took responsibility for what was found in his house and eventually pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of possessing 35 pounds or more of explosives.

The boy arrested in 2006 was charged as a juvenile for leaving an explosive in a portable bathroom in Albert Lea. It was that incident that led investigators to Marvin Yahnke’s home in Frost.

A Myspace.com account listed to an 18-year-old John Andrew Yahnke in Blue Earth has a teaser that says, “Heart stopping fun with a bang.” It said the last time the account owner logged on was Monday.

During the search Monday night, Yahnke’s apartment building wasn’t evacuated. Residents there were contacted by police and given the option to leave. The chemicals found in the bags were tested by the Mankato assessment team and found to be what the labels described, the Blue Earth police report said.

In the state the chemicals were found, they were not explosive.

Police Chief Dean Vereide said he couldn’t comment at this time about why Yahnke was allegedly attempting to build a bomb.