HOUSTON, February 27 (PTI): A high school teenager is being held in custody in US until the court determines whether he is a danger to the community following charges that he used internet information to build seven bombs that exploded at different locations during the last two weeks.
18-year-old Michael Ranelli pleaded not guilty to the charges relating to placing and throwing explosives and weapons of mass destruction in the city of Lynn, near Boston. "Your honour, if you want I will go down to probation every single day," he told Lynn District Court Judge James Wexler during the hearing on Friday.
His lawyer Kevin Foley says his client is scared to death, and is still in high school. He says Ranelli ranks top five in his class at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute and is studying Automotive. Prosecutors say he ordered chemicals to make the bombs online, then fashioned homemade bombs using cardboard rolls and fuses.
Prosecutors said the devices were "as strong as a stick of dynamite." The latest explosion happened overnight February 21 in front of 6 Bowler St. in Lynn. Nobody was injured.
Judge Wexler ordered Ranelli held without bail in the Essex House of Correction in Middleton until Tuesday when Ranelli will return to District Court for a dangerousness hearing. The investigation is going on.
Earlier, a student from Saudi Arabia was arrested for attempting to blow up nuclear plants in the US and the residence of former president George W Bush.
20-year-old engineering student Khalid Ali-M-Aldawsari has reportedly said that he had been inspired by 9/11 terror attacks and speeches by Osama bin Laden.
18-year-old Michael Ranelli pleaded not guilty to the charges relating to placing and throwing explosives and weapons of mass destruction in the city of Lynn, near Boston. "Your honour, if you want I will go down to probation every single day," he told Lynn District Court Judge James Wexler during the hearing on Friday.
His lawyer Kevin Foley says his client is scared to death, and is still in high school. He says Ranelli ranks top five in his class at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute and is studying Automotive. Prosecutors say he ordered chemicals to make the bombs online, then fashioned homemade bombs using cardboard rolls and fuses.
Prosecutors said the devices were "as strong as a stick of dynamite." The latest explosion happened overnight February 21 in front of 6 Bowler St. in Lynn. Nobody was injured.
Judge Wexler ordered Ranelli held without bail in the Essex House of Correction in Middleton until Tuesday when Ranelli will return to District Court for a dangerousness hearing. The investigation is going on.
Earlier, a student from Saudi Arabia was arrested for attempting to blow up nuclear plants in the US and the residence of former president George W Bush.
20-year-old engineering student Khalid Ali-M-Aldawsari has reportedly said that he had been inspired by 9/11 terror attacks and speeches by Osama bin Laden.
