Whitehall man indicted on explosives charges
A Whitehall man arrested last week in Mt. Lebanon after police said he threatened government agencies and had homemade bombs and numerous guns in his car and house has been indicted by a federal grand jury on firearms and explosives charges.
A five-count indictment handed up Tuesday names Kurt Cofano, 32.
Mr. Cofano was found to be in possession of homemade bombs on July 9 and 10, authorities said. He also was in possession of marijuana and had a gun, according to the charges, in violation of federal law.
The indictment further alleges that from May through July, Mr. Cofano knowingly and unlawfully made destructive devices without registering them.
In all, federal authorities said, Mr. Cofano had 12 guns, including several assault-style rifles, along with 14 improvised grenades and nine destructive devices labeled “M101” with fragments.
U.S. Attorney Scott Brady praised the work of police, federal agents and prosecutors in bringing the case to indictment within only five days of Mr. Cofano’s arrest.
Authorities said Mr. Cofano on social media had threatened to blow up the Treasury Department and “take out” people at CIA headquarters, according to police, who were seeking him on a mental health warrant on July 9.
A license plate reader located his Mercedes in Dormont, and police pulled it over in Mt. Lebanon. Mr. Cofano surrendered
peacefully, according to a complaint, and told officers he had guns in the car and materials to make an M-80type firework.
Whitehall police said Mr. Cofano had earlier posted videos of himself making and detonating improvised bombs.
The Allegheny County bomb squad searched the car and found baggies with powder that appeared to be material to build bombs and what looked like remote detonators patched together with wire, an Altoids tin and plastic container.
Police said they found numerous improvised explosives, grenade fuses, modified training grenades and marijuana.
Mr. Cofano was committed to UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital and then taken to jail while federal agents and the county bomb squad searched his house.
There, they said, they found more improvised explosive devices and bombmaking equipment, including 20 pounds of chemicals, suspected homemade nitroglycerine, a sniper manual and explosive components.
It was not immediately clear where Mr. Cofano had all of his guns stored, but agents said they found three Anderson AM-15 rifles, including one equipped with a rocket-launcher, as well as a Kalashnikov USA shotgun, other rifles and three handguns.
Police in Mt. Lebanon and Whitehall charged Mr. Cofano on Tuesday with possession of weapons of mass destruction, arson and several misdemeanors. His bail was denied in the Mt. Lebanon case and he faces preliminary hearings before district judges in Whitehall and Mt. Lebanon next week.
No attorney was listed for Mr. Cofano in court papers. His initial appearance hearing in U.S. District Court is not yet scheduled.