Pennsylvania man with explosives in suitcase will not be released on bail

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Pennsylvanian man admitted to packing explosives, fuses and a lighter in a suitcase he checked in for a commercial flight to Florida and fled Lehigh Valley Airport for fear of arrest, a court document filed Thursday said.

Mark Muffley, 40, from Lansford, called his girlfriend for a ride when he heard his name was being paged at the airport and changed his phone number shortly thereafter to avoid being traced, prosecutors said.

“The danger he has created … is simply amazing,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherry A. Stefan said in court Thursday when she asked a judge to deny bail. “The fact that the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) was able to immediately detect this device and prevent it from being placed on the plane is to their credit.”

The defense lawyer suggested that Muffley only wanted to set off the fireworks on a Florida beach, where he says the former construction worker sometimes tends to his ailing grandfather.

However, U.S. Magistrate Pamela A. Carlos agreed to hold him without bail, finding that Muffley posed both a flight risk and a danger to society.

The authorities said the fact that the explosive was packaged in the same registered bag with other items increased the risk of an explosion.

“The luggage also contained a canister of butane, a lighter, a tube with residual white powder, believed to be methamphetamine, a cordless drill with cordless batteries, and two GFCI sockets taped together with black duct tape,” prosecutors wrote in a detention memorandum filed Thursday. .

“His actions seriously endangered the lives of employees and visitors to the airport, and if the explosive device had not been intercepted, then the passengers of the flight and the aircraft itself,” the memo says.

According to the criminal case, Muffley is accused of possessing explosives at the airport, as well as possessing or attempting to plant an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft.

Attorney Jonathan McDonald argued that the items were not “incendiary” and therefore did not meet the requirements of the second prosecution. Muffley attended the hearing, which was held via videoconference, from prison, but did not speak.

“No one has come up with a single conceivable theory about how this thing could explode. This shouldn’t have happened in the bag,” McDonald said.

However, Carlos found good reasons to support both charges.

Muffley was arrested at his home on Monday evening, hours after checking in for an Allegiant Air flight at Lehigh Valley International Airport. The flight was bound for Orlando.

His record includes misdemeanor arrests for drug possession, theft and drunk driving, which have resulted in multiple prison terms, the memo said. According to authorities, his girlfriend told authorities that he feared being arrested at the airport on an outstanding child support order.

They said they found a three-inch “round compound” wrapped in paper and plastic wrap that they believed contained a mixture of flash powder and other materials used to make commercial-grade fireworks.

Attached to it was a “quick-acting fuse” that looked like a candle wick – apparently part of the compound’s original production – as well as a slow-burning “hobby fuse” that appeared to have been added later, they said.

Officials believe the materials can ignite from heat and friction and pose a significant risk to the aircraft and its passengers, the criminal complaint says.

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