Former California firefighter pleads not guilty to planting bombs along roadways

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A former firefighter with a previous arson conviction has been arrested on suspicion of detonating a homemade bomb and planting several other explosive devices along roadways across two Northern California counties, authorities said.

The 41-year-old man pleaded not guilty last week to multiple felony charges including possessing and exploding an explosive device with the “intent to injure, intimidate, and terrify a person, and to wrongfully injure and destroy property,” according to the criminal complaint.

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The Sacramento Bee reported the man was arrested Jan. 12 following an investigation by the FBI, the California Highway Patrol and local sheriff’s departments after a series of improvised explosive devices were found alongside roads and highways in El Dorado and Sacramento counties. Officials did not specify which roads were involved.

In a social media post, the highway patrol said the man, a resident of Orangevale, was apprehended after an “intense operation” in which an explosive ordinance disposal team carried out “critical search warrants.”

A former firefighter with a previous arson conviction pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges including possessing and exploding an explosive device. (Fox News.)

The defendant also faces a special allegation for having a previous felony conviction. In 2016 he pleaded guilty to setting at least 30 fires in rural areas east of Sacramento during 2006 and 2007, causing $7 million in damage, the Bee reported. He was sentenced to five years in prison and agreed to pay more than $246,000 in restitution to the state.

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He set the fires after serving as a volunteer firefighter for the Diamond Springs Fire Protection District in El Dorado County. He also worked from 2001 to 2003 as a seasonal firefighter for Cal Fire, according to the Bee.

The defendant is being held in the El Dorado County Jail and is ineligible for bail, court records show.