Warrington man sentenced to prison in pipe-bomb case

A Warrington man who pleaded guilty in September to illegal possession of three pipe bombs was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

John Grzyminski, 50, had faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

He was arrested May 10 in a traffic stop by Solebury Township police after his mother, Catherine Wilson, called police to their home on Saddle Drive.

On May 9, she had returned home after surgery to find that Grzyminski had removed the wheelchair-access ramp, an affidavit filed in May in federal court stated.

She returned to the house with another son, Michael, to find something "resembling a large dog bone" on a kitchen counter, with "a barbecue-type lighter beside it," the affidavit said.

The object was several inches long, covered with white PVC pipe, and capped on both ends, with a short "hobby-type fuse" on one end, Derek K. Valgora, an agent of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, wrote in the affidavit.

Two other such objects were found upstairs in a spare bedroom.

Though John Grzyminski told officials that the objects were meant as Fourth of July fireworks, Valgora stated that the three objects could have been deadly.

"I know that fireworks are typically housed in paper tubing, which will not cause dangerous shrapnel to be created when lit," Valgora said in the affidavit.

"These devices were housed in rigid PVC pipe, which would shatter and send high-velocity shrapnel in every direction upon explosion."

On a garage workbench, Valgora found an explosive propellant - Pyrodex - PVC pipe, fuses, and drilling tools.

Though John Grzyminski had told officials in May that the devices were meant as fireworks, a report of his September guilty plea stated that he said he had made 16 bombs over 10 to 12 years, for hunting bears and for entertainment, by tossing the bombs into lakes.

The three objects were at least two years old, he said.

The sentence, on the charge of illegal possession of an unregistered explosive device, was handed down Friday by U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell.