Jacob D. Miller

Introduction

Jacob D. Miller is a 44-year-old convicted felon from South Hadley, Massachusetts, who pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally importing plutonium from Russia and selling it — along with the highly toxic metal thallium — to roughly 138 customers across the United States and abroad through his home-run business, “Collect The Periodic Table.” The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced the plea on Monday, October 5, 2026, capping a case that began with an April 2025 search of his home that turned up six unlawfully owned rifles, explosive powder, ammunition and fresh child sexual abuse material on his devices. Miller remains in federal custody ahead of a January 21, 2027 sentencing.

Background Information

Miller’s record predates the nuclear-material case by two decades: in February 2004 he was convicted in Massachusetts state court of possessing child pornography and possessing an explosive device, receiving a House of Correction term followed by 10 years of probation, according to federal prosecutors. After his release he started Collect The Periodic Table, a business selling samples of elements from the periodic table — including radioactive plutonium and thallium, an odorless, tasteless, slow-acting heavy metal — operating it from his residence in South Hadley and selling both directly and through the online third-party retailer Bonanza.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Miller’s 2004 state convictions and his 2026 federal guilty plea are matters of court record: by pleading guilty he admitted every count against him, and nothing in the case remains an unproven allegation. Sentencing has not yet occurred, so no prison term has been imposed on the federal counts.

According to the US Attorney’s Office, Miller imported plutonium from Russia, arranged for it to be mailed to his home, and between approximately December 30, 2020 and March 31, 2025 sold it to approximately 67 customers throughout the United States and abroad — shipping the radioactive metal through the US mail even though plutonium is a hazardous substance prohibited from being mailed. From roughly October 12, 2017 through April 5, 2025 he also sold thallium to approximately 71 customers through the same channels, mailed the same prohibited way. The New York Post reported the plutonium sales reached “dozens of US customers” and noted plutonium is a radioactive metal usable in nuclear weapons and a deadly poison if inhaled, ingested or introduced through open wounds.

The case broke open on April 9, 2025, when investigators searched Miller’s residence. In a box they recovered bottles of explosive powder, numerous rounds of ammunition and six rifles — all possessed unlawfully because of his prior felony convictions. On his laptop and cell phone they found child sexual abuse material that he had accessed as recently as the day before the search warrant was executed, prosecutors said. A federal grand jury indicted him on April 17, 2025, and he has remained in custody since his arrest that month.

Miller pleaded guilty to five counts: being a felon in possession of ammunition; being a felon in possession of explosive materials; importing nuclear material without lawful authority; mailing hazardous materials; and possession of child pornography after a prior child pornography conviction. The statutory exposures stack unevenly — up to 15 years for each felon-in-possession count, up to 20 for the nuclear-material import, up to one year for mailing hazardous materials, and a mandatory minimum of 10 years (up to 20) on the child-pornography count because of his 2004 conviction.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The plea was announced jointly by US Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, the FBI Boston Division’s special agent in charge, with assistance credited to the Hadley Police Department and Massachusetts State Police. National and local outlets picked the case up within hours, with coverage fixating on the same improbability: a registered element-sample business quietly moving Russian plutonium through the US Postal Service to buyers across the country for more than four years. The New York Post’s account framed Miller as an entrepreneur selling “dangerous plutonium” from his home, while NBC Boston and NBC News both led with the combination of the nuclear-material charges and the fresh child-sex-abuse-material findings.

Current Status

Miller has been in federal custody since his April 9, 2025 arrest and remains detained pending sentencing. US District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for January 21, 2027, where his term will be determined under the US Sentencing Guidelines and the statutes governing each count. Because he pleaded guilty, no trial will follow; the only open questions are the length of his sentence and the supervised-release terms that attach to it.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Whatever Collect The Periodic Table was as a hobby-business, its owner will be remembered through the federal docket it produced: a two-decade-old record for child pornography and explosives, resurrected and compounded into a nuclear-material importation case that ran through the US mail for over four years undetected. His 2004 conviction now drives the arithmetic against him — it converted the child-pornography count into a mandatory-minimum charge and made every rifle and round in the April 2025 search a fresh felony. Sentencing in January 2027 will set the term he serves, and the case stands as the rare prosecution where the hazardous-materials statute, the nuclear-import statute and habitual-predator sentencing all converge on one seller of periodic-table samples.

Sources

US Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts, “Massachusetts Man Pleads Guilty to Illegally Importing and Selling Plutonium From Russia,” October 5, 2026 — source
New York Post, “Felon admits to importing radioactive material from Russia, illegally selling to dozens of US customers,” October 6, 2026 — source
NBC Boston, “MA man pleads guilty to selling plutonium, having CSAM,” October 2026 — source
NBC News, “Massachusetts man pleads guilty to selling radioactive material from Russia,” October 2026 — source