Man pleads guilty to setting off explosive in Brooklyn Park
A Washington, D.C., man pleaded guilty to using a destructive device after causing an explosion at a Brooklyn Park bingo hall last summer.
Andre Richardson, 42, submitted his one-count plea to Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Stacy McCormack on Friday, four days before his jury trial was scheduled to begin. He was arrested in late August and originally faced 14 charges for the July 5 explosion at Bingo World, which sent two people to the emergency room.
Pleading last week to one felony destructive device charge, Richardson faces a maximum punishment of 25 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled in Circuit Court for July 13.
Richardson was identified by authorities last year from the facility’s security footage. Several Bingo World employees also told officials they had seen Richardson throughout the evening, saying he had made several cash withdrawals with the cashier.
According to charging documents, he was wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a T-shirt for a local moving company when he placed an item between two bingo slot machines. He made multiple attempts to light the device before suddenly standing up and walking away.
A small plume of smoke appeared, investigators wrote, before a large detonation sent shrapnel more than 30 feet in all directions.
Two people reported to the emergency room as a result of the blast, according to court records, while six others sustained minor injuries and declined treatment. No one was killed in the explosion.
Three electronic bingo machines were damaged as well, police said, each worth an estimated $7,000.
Of the 14 counts Richardson faced, 12 were misdemeanors, including attempted first-degree arson, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment.
In October, Anne Arundel Circuit Court Judge Glenn L. Klavens determined Richardson posed an “extreme threat” to public safety and ordered he remain in police custody without bail.
At the time, defense attorney Denis O’Connell, a public defender, said if the allegations were true, they would prove his client “had a momentary lapse of judgment and set off a firecracker in a casino.”
Richardson said in October he was “pretty sure” the outcome of his case would prove he was not a threat to public safety, telling the court he wanted to go home to his children and grandchildren.