A Houma man was arrested after authorities searched his apartment Monday and found a cache of weapons, fake law-enforcement ID badges and several suspected bombs that turned out to be fake, authorities said.

A Houma man was arrested after authorities searched his apartment Monday and found a cache of weapons, fake law-enforcement ID badges and several suspected bombs that turned out to be fake, authorities said.

An estimated 40 people were evacuated from four buildings at the Landing at Bayou Cane apartment complex, 1803 Martin Luther King Blvd., after police found the suspected bombs. The residents were allowed to return about 6 hours later after authorities took the suspected explosive devices to a secure location, where they were detonated and determined to be fake.

Michael Hebert, 61, a resident of the apartment complex, is charged with possession of an illegal weapon, 19 counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, 10 counts of unlawful possession of fraudulent documents and possession of a firearm with an erased serial number. He was in the Terrebonne jail this morning awaiting a bond hearing, the Sheriff's Office said.

The investigation was launched by the U.S. Secret Service after agents learned Hebert had bought counterfeit badges and credentials that represented him as a federal agent, the Sheriff's Office said today in a news release.

During a search of Hebert's apartment Monday afternoon, Secret Service agents and sheriff's deputies found several hundred counterfeit documents, badges and credentials that falsely identify him as belonging to law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI, CIA and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Sheriff's Office said.

Hebert had illegally acquired 19 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition, which were also confiscated, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Outside the apartment complex Monday evening, law-enforcement agents and residents gathered.

“The (deputy) at the gate told me there was a guy in an apartment with bombs and grenades, and stuff to make them,” said Laveda Johnson, 41, one of those evacuated from their apartments.

Residents said they were evacuated about 2 p.m. and were allowed back into their homes around 8 p.m.

As a felon, Hebert is barred by law from possessing firearms, the Sheriff's Office said. He was convicted in 1990 for possession and transfer of a machine gun and wire fraud.