A North Fort Myers man will spend 24 years in federal prison after police responding to a reported hostage situation found him carrying a gun, silencer and pipe bomb, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Jesse William Korff, 32, pleaded guilty Jan. 14 to possessing firearms and ammunition as a convicted felon, possessing unregistered silencers and a destructive device and attempting to maliciously use an explosive while on federal supervised release.
U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell also ordered Korff to forfeit the weapons, ammunition, silencers and destructive device involved in the case.
According to court records, Fort Myers police responded to a 911 hang-up call at a home on May 19, 2025. Arriving officers reported finding a hostage situation and saw Korff struggling with a woman.
Officers restrained Korff and recovered a gun and silencer that came loose during the struggle. They also found a pipe bomb protruding from his pocket, prosecutors said.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad used a robot to remove the device before Korff was taken into custody.
Testing by the sheriff's office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined that someone had attempted to detonate the pipe bomb, according to prosecutors.
Investigators also found another gun, silencer and ammunition inside Korff's vehicle, along with additional bomb-making materials inside the home.
Korff was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition because of previous felony convictions. His criminal history includes convictions for transferring and possessing a toxin for use as a weapon, smuggling toxins from the United States and conspiring to kill, maim or injure someone in a foreign country.
The Fort Myers Police Department, Lee County Sheriff's Office and ATF investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Morgan prosecuted it.
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