Prison ordered for man who made explosives in South Jordan home in ‘uniquely dangerous’ case

WEST JORDAN — A man who was convicted of creating multiple weapons of mass destruction in his South Jordan home and shooting at officers serving a warrant on his home was sentenced to prison on Tuesday.

Third District Judge Matthew Bates sentenced Ryan Lynn McManigal, 45, to at least 11 years and up to life in prison Tuesday for a crime that was “uniquely dangerous.”

McManigal was found guilty of six counts of possession or use of a weapon of mass destruction, a first-degree felony, and two counts of assault on a peace officer, a second-degree felony, during a jury trial in July. He was sentenced to serve five years to life in prison for each weapons charge and terms of one to 15 years in prison for both charges of assaulting peace officers.

Bates said three of the sentences will be served consecutively, one representing the weapons of mass destruction that caused danger to his neighbors and neighboring businesses, one representing the danger he placed police officers in, and another representing the devices or traps in the home that were meant to kill his sister — with whom he was having an estate dispute.

“This was a crime that presented a unique danger to the community and the neighborhood. It presented a unique danger to the police who showed up that day to serve a warrant on your house,” he said.

Bates said McManigal’s testimony at his trial “chilled many people,” and he talked about the pain McManigal’s sister expressed during the trial from learning that he had been plotting to “murder her by blowing her up.”

McManigal said Tuesday he takes complete responsibility, and told the court he had no idea the impact methamphetamine would have on him and the delusions it would cause.

“You’ll be sending a completely different person to prison than the one that was arrested,” he said.

He asked the judge for mercy and said he has been truthful from the very beginning, though he said he exaggerated the amounts of triacetone triperoxide, also known as TATP, explosives in his home out of concern for the bomb squad.

When police served a warrant on July 23, 2020, McManigal was found with at least 20 pounds of explosive materials in his home at 3371 W. Snow Moon Place in South Jordan. The warrant was served based on information that he had guns and was violating a protective order.

Most of the explosives in McManigal’s house were detonated on-site on July 24, 2020, after bomb experts determined the substances couldn’t be safely removed from the home. Six hundred people were evacuated from nearby homes and businesses during the process. Later, his South Jordan home was demolished because of the amount of hazardous substances inside.

McManigal pointed out that his case is different from others, because his behavior caused the loss of his entire home, including $300,000 in equity, and all of the personal items inside of it because insurance did not cover anything.

Deputy Salt Lake County attorney Ethan Rampton said McManigal placed “an entire community at grave risk.”

“One thing that seems clear is that the defendant’s actions could easily have gone from planning and preparation to mass destruction,” he said.

The attorney said he can’t think of another defendant who put so many people in grave danger, and said it is fortunate that McManigal was arrested before any of his devices were used and that none of the shots fired in a residential neighborhood hit officers or community members.

Rampton argued that the risk McManigal poses to the community with his actions warrants a significant term of incarceration — he asked for the charge associated with triacetone triperoxide explosives to run consecutively to the other charges, which he asked to run concurrently with each other.

McManigal was initially charged with two counts of attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, instead of assaulting an officer, but the jury chose to find him guilty of a lesser charge. He was also found not guilty of three additional counts of possession or use of a weapon of mass destruction.

His attorney, Ron Yengich, asked the judge to recognize the jury’s decision, that jurors believed McManigal when he testified during his trial. He said the prosecutors were making the case larger than it is, and that not allowing McManigal to have hope for healing would be an additional tragedy.

“Mr. McManigal has done everything that he can at this point to try to make everyone feel that he is a changed man, and I would submit that he is,” Yengich said.

He asked for any prison sentences to each run concurrently.

Yengich said after the sentence was given that McManigal plans to appeal the conviction in this case through another attorney he has already hired.