Two Charlotte, North Carolina roommates, one an air traffic controller working for the Federal Aviation Administration, were arrested on Charlotte Friday for possessing a weapon of mass destruction.
Paul George Dandan, age 30, was in possession a pipe bomb made by his roommate Richard Fells, age 39. Dandan only had access to offsite areas, Fox Live reports.
An FAA spokesperson told WBTV that Dandan “only had access to the offsite Air Traffic Control Tower and had not access to the restricted areas of the terminal or ramp. He did not have access to any aircraft at the airport.”
The device was not at the airport and it was not assembled when officers arrived, in the 300 block of Minitree Lane.
Detectives first learned that Derrick Fells had the device. Fells admitted he made the bomb to use against a neighbor but changed his mind and gave it away to Dandan.
Dandan’s access has been revoked and he is cooperating. Both men are charged with possession, acquiring and transporting of a weapon of mass destruction. Fells is also charged with three weapons offenses for manufacturing the weapon. Dandan is being held on $45,000 bond and Fells on a $150,000 bond.
Dandan was arrested in March 2015 for assaulting a female.
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In 2010, Dandan was arrested in Daytona Beach, Florida, and accused of domestic battery by strangulation. Dandan commented on his arrest four months after the arrest saying: “And you could also post that the arresting officer had no proof because the ‘victim’ was too drunk to write a report, so when she wrote a report the next morning and was asked in front of a judge, she admitted that the bruises which don’t show up on a neck if something happened in the same hour where from sexual activity…thank you very much.”
The following types of explosives are generally considered weapons of mass destruction by the FBI:
1) Any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas, including the following: a bomb; grenade; rocket having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than four ounces; missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce; mine; or device similar to any of the previously described devices.
2) Any weapons that are designed or intend to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors.
3) Any weapon involving a disease organism.
4) Any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life.
