NEWARK – A 30-year-old Newark man faces charges of making and possessing explosives after police found two pipe-bombs in a vehicle following a hit-skip crash Tuesday morning.
Police says they also found evidence of bomb-making materials at the property where they arrested Kristopher Porter, Division of Police spokesman Sgt. Chuck Wilhelm said.
Newark police arrested Porter after discovering two explosive devices in damaged vehicle while investigating an accident on Prospect Street, Wilhelm said.
Officers called to the area of 49 Prospect Street on a report that the driver of an SUV had struck a parked vehicle and fled the area on foot found a suspected explosive device in the abandoned vehicle.
A second device would later be located in the vehicle by the Columbus bomb squad, Wilhelm said.
Officers arrested Porter, who lived nearby on Gainor Avenue and a search of the property “revealed further evidence of materials used to make explosive devices,” Wilhelm said.
Porter has been charged with unlawful possession of dangerous ordnance, which includes illegally manufacturing or processing explosives, and Wilhelm says the case will be turned over to the Licking County Prosecutor’s Office for review.