Massachusetts Man Bought Plutonium in Russia and Resold It Online

Collecting chemical element samples is a real and mostly harmless hobby for some enthusiasts. You can buy a piece of tungsten or a vial of inert gas. But 44-year-old Jacob Miller from Massachusetts decided to turn this fascination into an extremely dangerous business.

Since 2017, he ran the online store Collect The Periodic Table. The storefront looked harmless. But behind the facade of collectible trinkets lay years of trading in radioactive and highly toxic substances.

The Russian Connection and Postal Shipments

The most high-profile episode of the case involves plutonium-239. According to federal court documents, Miller established a supply channel from Russia. More specifically, from a seller based in St. Petersburg.

On the website, the item was listed under the intriguing name "Plutonium (Cold War Era Detector Source)". The description claimed the sample was extracted from a Soviet-era smoke detector. The price tag was around $500 per piece.

An important nuance: investigators confirmed the fact of illegal import and sales, but did not conduct independent forensic analysis of the origin of every specific piece of metal. Nevertheless, the scheme worked flawlessly. From December 2020 to March 2025, Miller shipped plutonium to at least 67 clients. Not only across the US, but also to Canada, Japan, and Switzerland. And he did this via regular USPS mail, blatantly violating federal bans on shipping radioactive materials.

Thallium and a Chilling Connection

Plutonium was just the tip of the iceberg. From 2017 to 2025, Miller also traded in thallium. This silvery metal is incredibly toxic, and its salts were long used as rat poison. It was purchased by about 71 people.

One of these buyers ended up in criminal chronicles in the most horrific way. On April 5, 2025, Stuart Hanmer from Minnesota purchased two 5-gram portions of thallium from Miller. Hanmer was later charged with the intentional murder of his neighbor and roommate, Cody Ernst. A lethal concentration of this exact substance was found in the victim's body.

Prosecutors are not charging Miller with complicity in the murder. But the very fact that a deadly poison was freely mailed to anyone who asked reads like a thriller script.

A Chemical Stockpile in the Basement and a Piano

On April 8, 2025, FBI agents and weapons of mass destruction specialists raided Miller's home in South Hadley. What they found shocked even seasoned investigators.

Alongside sales records, authorities discovered:

• 6 firearms and ammunition (illegal due to Miller's prior felony convictions);
• Explosive materials;
• About 40-45 pounds (nearly 20 kg) of liquid elemental mercury;
• Dozens of containers holding acids, alkali metals, and arsenic.

A particularly surreal find was in the basement. Agents dismantled an old piano and discovered a hidden compartment inside. It contained boxes of that very same plutonium, explosive antimony allotropes, and other banned substances.

When the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection arrived to clean up the site, it turned out that Miller, having used a brief window to enter the house for personal items, had managed to move or hide at least 11 hazardous objects.

20 Years of Ignoring Warnings

The most astonishing part of this story is its duration. This was not a spontaneous stunt.

Back in 2002, police found homemade bombs at his residence. In 2004, he was convicted of possessing explosives and child sexual abuse material. In 2014, regulators caught him selling depleted uranium on eBay and issued an official cease-and-desist order. In 2015, FBI agents interviewed him.

Miller promised to stop every single time. And every single time, he found a way to continue. In 2023, parallel to his plutonium sales, he set off a homemade powder charge in his yard to blow up an old dishwasher.

How It All Ends

On October 5, 2026, Jacob Miller pleaded guilty to five federal charges, including illegal importation of nuclear materials, mailing hazardous substances, and possession of explosives by a convicted felon.

The theoretical maximum sentence across all counts reaches 71 years in prison. While sentences are rarely stacked to the absolute maximum in practice, Judge Mark G. Mastroianni is unlikely to be lenient. The final sentencing is scheduled for January 21, 2027.

For now, his online store is shuttered, the chemicals are being disposed of, and 67 people around the world are left wondering what exactly that radioactive souvenir gathering dust on their shelf truly is.