DA: Bail for bomb suspect wrong

[alp227]

Source: Altoona Mirror

HOLLIDAYSBURG - Blair County District Attorney Richard A. Consiglio said Tuesday he totally disagrees with the decision of a federal magistrate to grant bail to 18-year-old Vladislav Miftakhov, accused of making bombs in his Juniata, Altoona, apartment.

Miftakhov is charged by federal authorities with making and possessing unregistered destructive devices, which city police found Jan. 24 when called to the apartment building where the Penn State Altoona engineering student lived with two others.

Initially, police were checking on a complaint that Miftakhov was farming marijuana plants, but officers soon discovered a suitcase with two bombs and bomb-making materials inside.

The college freshman at first told officers he was producing fireworks, but when police refused to buy that story, he said "he was going to blow things up," according to the federal criminal complaint and testimony Monday by an agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Read more: http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/578970/DA--Bail-for-bomb-suspect-wrong.html

---

More info in this article by the Mirror and this one by the San Francisco Chronicle.

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Is this guy a "terrorist" or does he just like to blow shit up?

I did a little blowing shit up back in the day, just for fun. And it was fun. Now you do that, and you're a "terrorist."

[JoeyT]

4. Looks like "just likes to blow shit up".

They found 42 "empty compressed gas containers" they believed he intended to fill with explosives.

Which sounds far far scarier than "He was making firecrackers out of CO2 cylinders.", because pretty much everyone with access to empty CO2 cylinders since ever has done the same damned thing.

Which means the whole thing is a joke. I'm guessing someone noticed they weren't getting nearly as much of that sweet anti-terrorism money anymore, and they decided that the next kid they found with something that went bang was going to be a terrorist.

[PeoViejo]

5. I used to do the same thing when I was a teenager

I bet there are Millions who have done the same thing. Blowing up stumps and bees nests is not terrorism, just dangerous fun.

[marble falls]

2. We made "bombs" as kids for the bangs, never ever wanted to hurt anyone, it ended after college.

Course I did build a potato cannon "for the kids".

[Ash_F]

3. Kids need to be taught not to talk to police. Always wait for a lawyer.

Reading the article, he sounds like a hobbyist. Kind of a dangerous hobby, in my view, but there are plenty of idiots doing this on youtube (ie FPSRussia).

Arrested and charged, ok maybe, but this young man doesn't need to be railroaded without bail over it.