“These devices were housed in rigid PVC pipe, which would shatter and send high-velocity shrapnel in every direction upon explosion.”
Valgora’s statement was attached to a federal complaint accusing John Grzyminski, 50, of Saddle Drive in Warrington, of illegally possessing three pipe bombs, which are considered “destructive devices.” It is unlawful for a person to possess such devices.
Grzyminski, who was living with his mother in Warrington, was also accused by local authorities of risking a catastrophe, and the illicit manufacture and possession of weapons of mass destruction.
He was taken into custody without incident Thursday after a Solebury Township patrolman spotted him driving his black pickup truck. Police quickly ruled out Grzyminski as a terrorist.
Papers filed Friday paint a portrait of an elderly, ailing mother named Catherine Wilson returning home after a hospital stay for surgery to a rude welcome — Grzyminski had removed her wheelchair access ramp to the house.
A short time later, Wilson and another son, Michael Grzyminski, entered the home and found something on the kitchen counter “resembling a large dog bone,” Valgora testified in the affidavit.
Michael recognized the object with a “barbecue-type lighter beside it” as a pipe bomb and called police.
The device was several inches long, covered with white PVC pipe, and capped on both ends. Protruding from one end was a short piece of green “hobby-type fuse,” Valgora wrote.
John Grzyminski left the scene after telling police the device was fireworks for Independence Day.
A police search turned up two similar pipebombs in a spare bedroom upstairs. The three devices were confiscated and detonated safely, according to the affidavit. Fragments were sent to the ATF Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.
Valgora said he found a black powder substitute called Pyrodex — an explosive propellant — as well as sections of PVC pipe, fuses, and tools used for drilling, on a workbench in the garage. He testified that all three devices were functional.
The bomb ingredients will be evaluated at an ATF laboratory, Valgora said.
Contact Bonnie L. Cook at 610-313-8232 or bcook@phillynews.com. Read her blog, “MontCo Memo,” at www.philly.com.
