Man who had inert explosives, fake FBI ID sentenced in Dallas-Fort Worth carjacking

A Texas man who packed a stolen car with inert explosives and fake law enforcement credentials has been sentenced to seven years in prison for a Dallas carjacking, federal authorities announced.

Aaron Lee Oehlschlager, 55, pleaded guilty in June to carjacking and possession of a forged seal of an agency of the United States. He was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle, according to a news release from Chad Meacham, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Oehlschlager admitted he carjacked a woman at gunpoint outside a Dallas hotel on Sept. 27, 2019, according to plea papers.

But he appeared to have bigger plans, federal authorities said.

According to court documents, law enforcement found the stolen rental car, a Kia Soul owned by Hertz, in a parking garage in Grapevine six months later. The car was towed to a Hertz maintenance lot near Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, where it sat until June 2020. Then, a rental car employee who was cleaning the car found what appeared to be an improvised explosive device, authorities said.

DFW Airport police responded and evacuated the area. The FBI Dallas Bomb Squad later discovered the bomb was inert, according to the release.

A further search of the car revealed a second inert IED, fake FBI credentials, a fake search warrant, a black backpack labeled with the defendant’s son’s name, among other items, authorities said.

At the sentencing hearing, prosecutors said that the carjacking appeared to be the first step in a larger plot by Oehlschlager that involved the use of the fake explosive devices, masks, bolt cutters, handcuffs, zip-ties, stun guns and tasers.