A Williamsburg man with a history of mental illness was arrested Wednesday after breaking into the apartment of a neighbor who he believed was manufacturing explosives, police said.
Maj. Greg Riley of the Williamsburg Police Department said police officers and firefighters responded to the 200 block of Monticello Avenue around 12:45 p.m. Wednesday for a report of explosives. When they arrived, they found 47-year-old Bryan Sanderson, who told them his neighbor was making bombs, which caused him to break into his neighbor’s apartment and call police about what he discovered there.
Riley said Sanderson damaged the door to gain access to the apartment and that nothing else was damaged inside. The neighbor was not home when the incident occurred. Sanderson did not provide any details to police about what kind of explosives he alleges his neighbor was manufacturing.
Police and fire units inspected the apartment, but no explosives or explosive devices were found there. Sandreson, who Riley said has a history of mental health issues, volunteered to be evaluated. He was taken by police to Sentara Williamsburg Hospital and was then taken to Williamsburg Place on Mooretown Road in James City County.
Williamsburg Place operates the Farley Center and The Pavilion, both of which offer programs for people needing various mental and psychiatric services.
Shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday, James City County Police responded to Williamsburg Place after Sanderson allegedly punched a female staff member in the face. Maj. Stephen Rubino of the James City County Police Department said the staff member suffered a swollen lip and that she drove herself to the hospital. He was charged with misdemeanor assault for that incident. Charges of felony burglary and destruction of property followed from Williamsburg Police.
James City County Police took Sanderson from Williamsburg Place to the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, where he remains.
Sanderson was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the 2006 robberies of two banks in York County. He was charged with the robberies after the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office said he robbed the SunTrust Bank branch on Merrimac Trail and the Bank of America on Richmond Road within an hour on Sept. 13, 2006, according to a Daily Press article.
Though no firearm was recovered, he was found in a van near College Creek with money and an exploded dye pack. That van matched the vehicle in the SunTrust robberies, and Sanderson was later identified by them as the culprit, according to the article.
The robberies came after Sanderson spent 20 years in the Williamsburg Fire Department. The article said Sanderson helped catch two robbery suspects in 1993 after he chased them for more than 30 miles on Interstate 64 while talking to police on a cell phone.
Sanderson has been praised in the past for his sense of humor. He appeared on “The View” as one of “America’s funniest firefighters.” He left the Williamsburg Fire Department in 2003 to focus on his home-repair business, which went closed after Sanderson was jailed in South Carolina in 2006, according to the article. He was accused there of riding a hotel elevator naked and exposing himself to police.
He was interviewed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, where he discussed first responders and mental illness. That article said Sanderson was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2004 and was then incarcerated for crimes committed during psychosis. Sanderson has spoken to hundreds of first responders about crisis intervention teams, a program used by first responders across the country that teaches them how to more effectively interact with the mentally ill.
In that article, Sanderson said he “slipped into a severe psychosis” when he committed the bank robberies. He was incarcerated for 14 months. He said he became “more and more violent towards deputies due to the confusion of psychosis.” He said he was severely beaten by correctional staff due to his psychotic behavior. After spending seven months in a mental institution, he said he was released and daily medication was helping him.
