Weapons get man 17 years

A Costa Mesa man was sentenced to 17 years in prison Thursday for threatening police, a judge, a lawyer, and his estranged wife and carrying enough explosives and weapons to see it all through.

Ronald Gary Turner, 45, was convicted of multiple counts of stalking, having explosives, having homemade weapons, carrying a gun and ammunition and dissuading a witness earlier this month.

The case began in April 2008, when Turner was put on probation for domestic violence and slapped with a restraining order to stay away from his estranged wife. Three months later, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Judicial Protection Unit was tipped off that Turner was threatening his estranged wife, a Huntington Beach police detective, the judge presiding over their family case and her attorney. Newport Beach and Huntington Beach police also told the Sheriff’s Department that Turner possibly had bombs.

On July 2, 2008, a warrant was issued for Turner’s arrest after he failed to appear for a required batterer’s treatment program. Police arrested him during a traffic stop on the Garden Grove Freeway, where they found him carrying handcuffs, pepper spray, throwing knives, a stolen handgun with the serial numbers scratched off and hollow-point bullets.

The next day, police searched Turner’s home and found pipe bombs, homemade guns, tactical equipment, bullet-proof vests and a listening device.