Retired Arizona Marine says he kept 40 pipe bombs in his house to keep doomsday prepper wife happy

A former Marine told authorities that he kept 40 pipe bombs in his house to keep his doomsday prepper wife happy -- even though they're separated.

The Associated Press reported that authorities with a joint task force that included the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives had to evacuate "several" nearby homes while bomb technicians removed the 41 pipe bombs kept in Jeffrey Dennis Metcalf's Mesa, Arizona home.

According to authorities who interviewed the 51-year-old Metcalf, he and his "ultra-prepper" wife are separated, but he'd built the bombs so they would "be ready if the federal government descended into chaos," the report noted.

While conducting surveillance earlier in the week, officers saw the man "load black containers, duffel bags and firearms cases" with another man's help.

State troopers found bomb-making materials in his car later that same day, and Metcalf admitted to having the pipe bombs but claimed he was planning to throw them into a lake.

The man was reportedly investigated in 2008 while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps for making a replica of an improvised explosive device (IED).

Metcalf was released Thursday on a $50,000 bond.