ANGOLA, IN (WTVB) – A Litchfield man, 34-year-old Arvil Wesley Bryant Jr., was arrested at the Steuben County Sheriff’s Thursday , and charged with being an inmate in possession of a dangerous device, a Level 4 felony.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Steuben Superior Court, Bryant allegedly fashioned a homemade shank using plastic from another inmate’s back brace as part of a plot to stage a hate crime and increase his gang social status while in custody.
Bryant was already in in custody at the Steuben County Jail following a May 2024 arrest in Fremont, where he was apprehended with a pipe bomb strapped to his motorcycle and a stolen firearm.
For that earlier offense, he was sentenced in August 2025 to 60 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
He now faces a potential additional sentence of 2 to 12 years and a $10,000 fine if convicted of the new charge, with a trial scheduled for June 11 at the Steuben County Judicial Center.
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