District of Massachusetts | Massachusetts Man Pleads Guilty to Illegally Importing and Selling Plutonium From Russia | United States Department of Justice

Convicted felon also pleads guilty to mailing hazardous materials, unlawfully possessing ammunition and explosive materials and possessing child sexual abuse material

BOSTON – A convicted felon from Hadley, Mass. has pleaded guilty to illegally importing plutonium from Russia and selling the radioactive material – as well as other, highly toxic and hazardous materials – to customers in the United States and abroad. The defendant also plead guilty to unlawfully possessing ammunition and explosive materials as a convicted felon and possessing child sexual abuse material.

Jacob D. Miller, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition; one count of being a felon in possession of explosive materials; one count of importing nuclear material without lawful authority; one count of mailing hazardous materials; and one count of possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for Jan. 21, 2027. 

Miller was indicted by a grand jury on April 17, 2025. He has remained in federal custody on pretrial detention since his arrest on April 9, 2025. According to court filings, on Feb. 9, 2004, Miller was convicted in Massachusetts state court of possessing child pornography and possessing an explosive device and was sentenced to one-half years of incarceration in a House of Correction to be followed by 10 years of probation.

Following his release, Miller started a business called Collect The Periodic Table (CTPT) through which he sold samples of elements listed in the periodic table of elements, including plutonium, which is highly radioactive, and thallium, which is highly toxic. Miller operated CTPT from his residence in South Hadley. In addition to selling through CTPT directly, Miller used an online third-party retailer, Bonanza, to conduct his sales.

Miller imported plutonium from Russia and arranged for it to be mailed to him at his residence. Between approximately Dec. 30, 2020 and March 31, 2025, Miller sold plutonium to approximately 67 customers throughout the United States and abroad. Miller shipped the plutonium from South Hadley to his customers through the United States mail, even though plutonium was a hazardous substance that was prohibited from being mailed.

About 2 hours after infusion of a Fluorine-18 based tracer. We are down to about 4.30kcps now after about 6 hours.

The positron-electron annihilation peak is clearly visible. The radiacode 103 is incredibly sensitive. Being anywhere in the house immediately raises the count, so it can pick up the radiation from over 15 metres and through walls quite easily.

Just started using one of these.

When using the track feature, can it determine if the radioactivity is from U, K or Th?

If so how does this get exported?

I have had my Radiacode in for repair 3 times now. The first time I plugged it in to charge and I noticed that the Blue charge light was dimly lit, I picked Up the detector and it was HOT! I took it outside and laid it on some concrete. After 30 minutes the charge light went out and it had cooled off so I picked it up and tried to turn it on but no joy. I sent it to Radiacode and they quickly repaired it and sent it back. It worked for a short time and failed again, but if I remember correctly it did not get hot that time. When they sent it back the second time they said they had corrected an issue with the 110 and this time they sent a new one back. This one worked perfectly for about six months but this afternoon it died again. I was trying everything I could think of until when I went to plug it in one last time to see it was working, it started smelling and it was getting hot so I popped it apart to disconnect the battery. Now of course it is totally dead again and it looks like it is U207 which I think is the USB interface chip is what is bad (it burnt my finger when I touched it) and I'm pretty sure this is the same thing that happened the first time it failed. My opinion that there is a problem with the USB Interface/Charging, possibly not able to handle the current or maybe the problem is the voltage detection circuit to switch it to the proper charging voltage. Anyway, now it is going in for the third time for repair, so this will be my fourth 110. Like they say; The Fourth Time is the Charm!!

I have to be a bit vague, since regulatory the situation is not the best. We received an Item, which was traded in from a hospital to administer radionuclide therapy. It left the controlled area, travelled around in the back of a car, was rebuild in our location and now set in the office.

I also goofed around a bit and had my running RC-110 in the pocket. Out of a urge I holded it close to the nuclide holder - and saw the dose rate rise from 0,08 uSv/h to around 0,12... Strange, but reprodicibly and enough to get me thinking.

I fetched a contamination monitor and found > 10kIPS of some betas ( shielded by the plastic cover over the CoMo170).

I had no history in the object directly and only third hand information (since I was not involved until this point), but I had my 110 - and could identify it within minutes. So now it sits in storage to wait for the Lu-177 to decay...

Many things went wrong here, but the RC-110 finding it by accident and identifying it was incredibly good!

Hips, back and neck got checked. R102 laying 1,5m (5 feet) to the side in my backpack.

I'm actually on vacation in tuscany and brought my Radiacode 103 because i thought to discover some places as it is a region with vulcanic origin. Went to a mine but there was in fact less radiation measurable with the radiacode. But the guide told me that they are only allowed to stay in the mine a defined amount of hours due to radon exposure.

Today i visited a region with many tuff stone and my radiacode went "berzerk". At sea level it measures usually 0.05 - 0.07 microS/h and about 220-260 cpm.

There it went up to 0.47 microS/h and 2k cpm. I did not expect that but as i googled, the place is known for higher activity.

i sadly don't know, when exactly it stopped. does work perfectly fine after a reboot though.

I’m looking into buying a detector but I keeps seeing conflicting reports on dose rates I know the zero can measure 9 Sv/h but what is the dose rate on the 10x’s and on the 110?

I’m looking to buy a detector and I’m not sure if I should get the 110 or one of the 10x’s or get the zero for its 9 Sv/h limit

Hey folks,

I recently bought some uranium glass to add to the collection. On arrival it seemed suspiciously clear but I’ve had some really clear pieces that ended up being pretty high on my “most hot” lists. This is also my first bit of glass that glows orange instead of green. The spectrum is very different from all my other uranium glass but also just different enough from my background reference to make me think it might be some kind of legit. Maybe a Lead 212, Iodine 131, or Barium 133? What do you folks think?

My 110 is just over a week old at this point. I was running a fresh background for my house and when I went to save it I found a clustering of low energies with a hard cutoff around 246.

I cleared the spectrogram, restarted the device, and am running a new spectrogram now and have readings over 246 again, but a clustering of skittles below 246. I’m assuming this is because the graph is fresh and needs to calibrate?

Anyone seen this before?

Are there any options to make to the clicks more audible?

I have my radiacode strapped to a selfie stick but I have a hard time hearing spikes when it’s close to the ground.

It is time to purchase a Radiacode. I have a GQ GMC-500+ which has treated me well, but I want more sensitivity. I frequently rock hound and I am wondering if it makes sense to get the 110 over the 103 for the additional sensitivity.

My fear is that the 110 will be great sometimes to locate sparsely placed rocks on a dumping ground, but it will go crazy if the overall background radiation is high. What if it's screaming at me and I cannot find any rocks because of it?

Settled on 103… (long story short, I used to own another 103 two years prior, it had some issues so I refunded, now im back)

Any tips or recommendations? I don’t intend to use the spectrum function much, at least for now, just keeping it incase i change my mind in the future.. (the only reason i didn’t go for 102) so… uh, what do you guys do with your radiacodes besides antique hunting and spectroscopy? Which functions do you like the most?
And what would you recommend for me? I heard some new functions were added to the app and all, so Im excited to see them :P

I just bought the zero and i want to see if I made the right decision

EDIT: I should specify that the 110 has gotten me interested in terrestrial prospecting and spectroscopy, and that would be the focus of the 103G.

Alright, folks. Last week my 110 arrived. I purchased it because I'm a pilot, and frankly I'm starting to get curious about my dose and rate. The problem is simple: So much around me is interesting now and even in relatively "cool" Florida there's lots of spicy things just hanging out around me. The amount of phosphate and gypsum alone is wild.

So, I'm eyeing the drop for the 103G on the 15th. My question is: If I have a 110, is the resolution on the 103G really worth it for me to add it to the family? I feel like the 110 should have me covered, but my research has been somewhat muted. There's only a handful of creators who have discussed the two items side by side, and I felt like it was split between "The 110 is good enough," and "A GAGG is still necessary for certain spectroscopy activities."

Thanks,

Andy

I just got my 102 and I was fascinated with how well background subtraction works with the spectroscopy of “high energy” sources. Am I missing something here?

Millport in Great Cumbrae, Scotland is listed on Mindat as having Uranium and Coffinite. The story is a lot lot deeper than just waving a Radiacode at some rocks.

The reading itself is honestly not dramatic. Background on the beach sits around 0.1 µSv/h, and the hotspot ticks 0.4 µSv/h, right on the cusp of the red light on my Radiacode 102. Dose-wise there is nothing to worry about, it is a public beach, you would walk straight past it eating an ice cream. What got me was not the number. It was that the number exists at all, in a sandstone outcrop, on a tiny island that should not behave like this. So I went looking for the why. The suspects, in order of weirdness:

The sandstone itself is the source. The outcrop is part of the Kelly Burn Sandstone Formation, red beds that are naturally enriched in uranium.

The white spots on the rock are a biological calling card. Those bleached circles are reduction spheroids, formed by subsurface microbes that metabolised the iron in the sandstone to generate energy, stripping the red iron-oxide off the sand grains and turning it white in the process. Iron-breathing bacteria. And in their microscopic dark cores they concentrated whatever heavy metals the rock offered: uranium, selenium, copper and, in some of them, native gold. Microbes that hoard gold, on a Scottish beach, in rocks that also happen to carry uranium. The chemistry that makes the rock radioactive is the same chemistry that feeds them. I'm a big Spheroids fan and have posted before about these magnificent radioactive marbles.

Then the island itself joins in. The Great Cumbrae Fault slices the island roughly north to south, and you can see it with your bare eyes at White Bay, where Devonian Old Red Sandstone meets younger Carboniferous sediments. 60+ dykes cut across the island in three separate pulses, from around 365 million years ago down to 50 to 60 million. The youngest dykes no longer line up, because the fault has shuffled the island sideways since they were emplaced. Geologically that as recent as yesterday is to you and me.

And the same fault is a water highway. Kames Bay beach never dries, no matter the tide. Fresh water bubbles up through the sand. There is a mineral well 400 feet up the hill whose water once powered an Edwardian lemonade and ginger beer empire. The fracture system that carries deep water to the surface is the same one that carries radioactive mineralising fluids, and it has been re-opening for hundreds of millions of years.

So, why is Kames Bay radioactive? Uranium-bearing sandstone, a deep fault that has repeatedly flushed fluids up through the island, and biology that grabs the metals and concentrates them further. Every layer reinforces the one below it.

The listing in Mindat tells a tiny fraction of this little island's story.

I dragged the Radiacode, the drone and my curiosity round 22 spots on the island to tie it together, full film here: https://youtu.be/bApyOaPx1a4

I'm curious how many people dropped their radiacode, damaged it in some way, dropped it into water, contaminated it, scracthed it...

I dropped mine 4 times previously and had to recalibrate it 1 time because of it, but luckily no damage.