A California man faces over 100 years in prison after reportedly admitting to leaving 20 homemade explosives in a trash can near Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial. 

Kansas City Police Department’s Bomb and Arson Section responded to a call about a red trash bag suspected of containing explosives on Feb. 24. Owen I. Canizales Argueta, 22, is charged with dumping 20 “‘M’ devices, a commonly produced homemade explosive device” in an outdoor trash can at the memorial the previous morning.

“The ‘M’ devices would have functioned as designed, potentially causing property damage and physical injury to any life around them at the time of detonation,” police documents say. 

The inside of the bags had a heavy coating of a gray powder that resembled flash powder, a substance commonly used in stun grenades and fireworks. 

Security camera footage showed the suspect driving a black Honda Civic with a California license plate to the area of the crime and getting out of the car to get the bag of explosives, placing it into the trash can before driving off. 

Police found the car was registered to Argueta and further confirmed his identity after surveillance video at a nearby McDonalds showed a clear image of his face, which was compared to a photo from the Department of Revenue.

On Tuesday Argueta confessed to purchasing the explosives last year and admitted he placed them in the trash can, the police report says, though he denied knowledge of the M devices being illegal. 

Argueta was charged on Wednesday with 20 counts of possession of illegal explosives, a lower-level felony. Each count has a maximum of seven years in prison and a $10,000 fine, KCTV 5 reports.  

Argueta remained in jail Thursday on a $100,000 cash-only bond.

The Liberty Memorial, home to the National WWI Museum, will be the site of the 2026 “FIFA Fan Festival,” a free event stretching over 18 days or more during the World Cup in June and July.