Man faces federal charges for having explosives
A Duquesne Heights man accused of making three makeshift explosives and leaving them in a bag outdoors near 2 PNC Plaza in Downtown was arrested for the second time this week on Friday night.
Matthew Michanowicz, 52, is charged in a federal criminal complaint with possessing a destructive device that was not registered to him. He is in federal custody and will appear before a U.S. magistrate court judge. No date has been set.
At 8 a.m. Monday, Pittsburgh police were summoned to 2 PNC Plaza, a bank tower on Wood Street between Fifth and Forbes avenues.
Outside the building, police found a camouflage backpack near a bicycle rack. Inside the bag, they found three devices and smelled a foul odor. The city’s bomb squad detected three suspected “homemade Molotov cocktails,” according to a Pittsburgh police complaint.
A police dog sniffed the backpack and canisters, alerting to the presence of an ignitable liquid, the complaint said.
That liquid was leaking out of the devices, all of which had wicks attached to them with spray foam insulation, according to the police complaint.
On Wednesday night, Pittsburgh police and federal agents interviewed Mr. Michanowicz after he was spotted in front of the bank tower.
Authorities showed him surveillance footage of a man pulling up to a bike rack with a backpack outside 2 PNC Plaza. The man was
described as being older, about 6 feet tall and riding a blue bicycle with a bright red pouch on the handlebars.
Mr. Michanowicz told authorities he was the man in the video, but denied having a camouflage backpack. He said he came Downtown on Monday on his bicycle to see the aftermath of protests that occurred on May 30 and May 31 in response to the death of George Floyd. The Minneapolis man died after a police officer placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes.
“He denied having the backpack even after he was shown the photos of him with it,” Pitts- burgh police wrote in the complaint.
On Thursday, agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched Mr. Michanowicz’s home at 144 Republic St. in Duquesne Heights.
On a work bench in Mr. Michanowicz’s garage, authorities found a bundle of fuses, fuse remnants, a can of spray foam insulation, a syringe and 10 camouflage backpacks similar in size, pattern and design to the bag with explosive devices found in front of the bank tower.
On Thursday, Mr. Michanowicz was charged with three counts of possessing explosive devices and three counts of possessing weapons of mass destruction. He posted bond and was released from jail.
Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies arrested Mr. Michanowicz on a federal charge when he returned to his Duquesne Heights home at 10 p.m. on Friday.