Man admits packing explosives in suitcase on flight to Florida, feds say

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A Pennsylvania man admitted packing explosive supplies, fuses and a lighter in a suitcase he checked for a business flight to Florida and fled the Lehigh Valley airport when he feared being arrested, federal authorities stated in a courtroom doc filed Thursday.

Marc Muffley, 40, of Lansford, known as his girlfriend for a trip and shortly switched his telephone quantity, U.S. Lawyer Jacqueline C. Romero stated in a memo in search of that he be held with out bail on the costs. A detention listening to was scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

“The luggage additionally contained a can of butane, a lighter, a pipe with white powder residue suspected to be methamphetamine, a wi-fi drill with cordless batteries, and two GFCI shops taped along with black tape,” the detention memorandum stated.

Investigators stated the objects have been in the identical bag, vastly rising the chance of an explosion. The shops are a sort of circuit breaker.

“His actions severely jeopardized the lives of airport staff and patrons, and if the explosive had not been intercepted, the flight’s passengers and the plane,” the memo stated.

Muffley was arrested at his residence Monday night time, hours after he had checked in for the Allegiant Air flight on the Lehigh Valley Worldwide Airport. The flight was certain for Sanford, Florida, close to Orlando.

He’s charged with possessing an explosive in an airport and possessing or making an attempt to put an explosive or incendiary system on an plane, in accordance with a legal grievance. A message left Thursday for Muffley’s federal public defender, Timothy Wright, was not instantly returned.

His report consists of a number of arrests and jail stints for drug possession, theft, driving beneath the affect and different fees, the memo stated. His girlfriend advised authorities he feared being arrested on the airport on an impressive baby assist warrant, the doc stated.

Authorities have stated they discovered a three-inch “round compound” wrapped in paper and plastic wrap that they consider contained a mixture of flash powder and different supplies used to make business grade fireworks.

Connected to it was a “fast fuse” just like a candle wick — apparently a part of the unique manufacture of the compound — in addition to a slow-burning “pastime fuse” that appeared to have been added later, they stated.

They consider the supplies may very well be ignited by warmth and friction, and posed a major danger to the airplane and its occupants, in accordance with the legal grievance.

Muffley left the airport after his identify was paged over the airport’s public handle system, authorities stated.

He remained in custody pending the 1:30 p.m. listening to in Allentown, with Muffley set to attend through videoconference.