Palm Beach County man arrested after cops say they found 26 ‘explosive devices’
A detonated pipe bomb in the middle of a street and six other pipe bombs near the street with nails and metal pellets led to the arrest of a Boynton Beach man, police said Thursday morning.
An arrest report said Gregory Haasze, 34, “fully admitted the devices were intended to detonate. However, he maintained he never intended to harm anyone. Haasze admitted to placing pellets in and around the devices, which he claimed he used to remove tree stumps.”
But, the report said, Haasze hadn’t done any tree stump removing recently. And while Haasze talked to Boynton Beach police, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office found more “explosive devices” in the garbage bin and the area around Haasze’s apartment at 1250 Old Boynton Road.
Which is how Haasze wound up charged with 26 counts of making, possessing, placing or discharging a destructive device. Jail records say he was booked at 5:27 a.m. Thursday and has $26,000 bond.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms took over the investigation, Boynton Beach police said Thursday afternoon.
A call of a loud noise near Congress Avenue and Old Boynton Road Wednesday night around 7 summoned police to the area of Hoadley Road and Old Boynton Road. Just south of that intersection, the arrest report says, they found a “detonated device” on Hoadley Road. After finding six more PVC pipe bombs along the street, they shut down the area, including Oakwood Square Shopping Center and the south part of the Town Center Shopping Center.
Meanwhile, the report says, a helpful citizen approached officers with the information that a “Greg” who lived in the apartment buildings at 1250 Old Boynton Road makes his own little bombs and sets them off occasionally.
In addition to the pipe bombs, fuses attached and explosive black powder inside, police and PBSO bomb squad members say they found gunpowder and more devices in a nearby dumpster. The box, the report said, was addressed to Gregory Haasze.
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