A local man who police said was planning to build and detonate pipe bombs in public places in Bradford has been arrested and jailed.
Keven Wayne Curtis, 25, of 70 State St., is charged with two counts of terroristic threats and one of threatening to place a bomb in a public place, all first-degree misdemeanors.
According to the criminal complaint, on Oct. 23, police were called to the Leland Avenue address of Curtis’s grandparents for an unrelated incident. While at the residence, a family member said Curtis was “actively planning on constructing pipe bombs” and intended to detonate them in public places in Bradford. They told police Curtis was homeless at the time and they were unsure of his whereabouts.
Bradford Police Sgt. Todd Erickson began investigating. He spoke to Curtis’s grandparents, who said Curtis had told them he planned to make pipe bombs using metal pipes and chlorine. They told Erickson that Curtis said he planned to do a practice run by detonating one in a parking lot near the warehouse on Chestnut Street, the criminal complaint stated.
They told police that he intended to detonate pipe bombs in the gazebo in Veterans Square, and said he had already begun to purchase the needed materials.
Erickson began contacting area businesses, and several identified Curtis. At one business, he had purchased two short sections of pipe and four caps. At another business, he had inquired about purchasing black powder and rifles, the complaint stated.
On Saturday, Erickson located Curtis at a West Washington Street residence and interviewed him. Curtis said he was “angry about people in Bradford, not being accepting of him and was going to hurt them and get their attention,” the complaint stated.
Curtis allegedly told Erickson that he had been watching online videos on how to make pipe bombs, and admitted he had been visiting businesses to price the items he would need. Curtis said he had intended to detonate a bomb in Veterans Square within the next two months, according to the criminal complaint.
Curtis also told Erickson he was going to have a custom rifle constructed to “take out his child’s mother’s boyfriend,” the complaint alleged.
He was arraigned before District Judge Bill Todd and remanded to jail in lieu of $30,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in Central Court on Thursday.
