Prosecutors in a small Pennsylvania town have accused a local business owner of flying a drone strapped with explosive devices over his ex-girlfriend's home. While the makeshift airstrikes didn't detonate, prosecutors are attempting to link the man to a spate of other explosions that have rattled Washington Township residents since March.
According to a release from the US Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Jason Muzzicato illegally possessed seven improvised explosive devices, ten firearms "including multiple AR-15s," and a Model Phantom 3 drone at the time of his arrest in early June. Prosecutors allege Muzzicato combined his homemade bombs with the drone in an unsuccessful attempt to rain terror from the sky.
In an interview with WTAP, Charles Carcione, one of Muzzicato's neighbors, claimed Muzzicato would use drones to drop nails from the sky.
"One day, I was... in the driveway doing something," Carcione said to WTAP. "All of a sudden, I heard them. It rained nails. They came out of the sky. They dropped down from the sky."
Court documents reviewed by The Morning Call highlighted multiple accounts from residents around the Township describing vandalized cars and roads made treacherous by precariously littered nails. Those nails may have been the result of a strange James Bond-esque car designed by Muzzicato. The vehicle, according to those same court documents, had been retrofitted with dashboard switches that let Muzzicato drop nails, ball bearings, and paint thinner onto the road.
Prosecutors described Muzzicato as high on methamphetamine during his June arrest in court documents seen by The Morning Call. Muzzicato reportedly told prosecutors that he had regularly used meth for the past three years.
"It's hard to conjure up a more deadly or dangerous combination than firearms, explosives and methamphetamine," Assistant US Attorney John Gallagher said during Muzzicato's arraignment, according to The Morning Call.
Prosecutors argued that Muzzicato's alleged use of a drone to harass his ex was justification for his continued confinement until trial. US Magistrate Judge Henry S. Perkin granted the request
Muzzicato's defense attorney John Waldron denied allegations that his client used a drone to drop explosives on his ex in an interview.
"We don't have any conclusive evidence, and when my client was interviewed by the FBI, he denied that," he said.
Muzzicato has been charged with possession of firearms by an unlawful user of a controlled substance, and knowingly operating an aircraft when not registered. He had previously been charged in June with possession of ten firearms by a person subject to a court order restraining him from harassing, stalking, and threatening an intimate partner; and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
Muzicato is scheduled to face trial on November 4. If convicted, he could face up to 33 years in prison.
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