Bomb susp quoted: I won’t stop till ‘crackhead’ pays up

An upstate New York man is accused of setting off explosives in the yard of a former friend in a feud over drug money and vowing not to stop until he got what he was owed, authorities said on Saturday.

James Pane, 50, of Rochester, was arrested on federal charges after surveillance video spotted a truck that looked like his pickup leaving the scene of a Feb. 2 blast, according to a criminal complaint.

The doorbell surveillance video recorded the explosion at the house in Rochester after neighbors reported hearing blasts in previous days, according to the complaint. No one was injured.

Several neighbors later got anonymous letters explaining that the explosions would not stop.

“I don’t mean to bother you people in this neighborhood. But the little [expletive] crackhead ... owes me a lot of money for drugs,” said the letters that arrived in late February and early March, WABC reported.

“I will keep throwing bombs off in his yard until he pays. Call the cops they won’t catch me,” the sender wrote.

The resident of the targeted house told authorities he and Pane were longtime friends who had a falling-out, the complaint said.

The surveillance video showed a reddish truck at the home about a minute before the blast. Pane drives a maroon pickup truck, the victim said.

Other video obtained by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives showed the same truck leaving Pane’s nearby house a few minutes before the blast.

Pane was arrested and appeared in court following a search of his home last Thursday.

The search turned up a piece of paper in Pane’s trash listing the addresses of people who received the letters as well as materials used to make the explosives, the complaint said.

Pane faces another a court appearance scheduled for Tuesday, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

He was charged with using an explosive to destroy property and mailing threatening communications.

If convicted, he could face as much as 10 years in prison.

The name of his lawyer was not immediately available, and a possible telephone number for his home has been disconnected.