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OGDEN — An Ogden man was charged Monday with putting a pipe bomb in the bed of a pickup truck.
Frank Hinojosa Rendon, 46, of Ogden, is charged in 2nd District Court with possession of an explosive device, a second-degree felony, and drug possession, a class B misdemeanor.
Ogden police were called to assist firefighters on a vehicle fire Saturday at 241 W. Patterson Street just before 11 p.m. and said carpet in the bed of a pickup truck was on fire.
When firefighters removed the carpet from the truck, “(an) object fell out onto the ground. After examining the object that fell, the object appeared to be made of PVC material and also had a fuse coming out of the end,” the charges state.
A bomb technician was called to the scene and “after performing an X-ray of the pipe bomb, he believed it contained black powder,” according to charging documents.
At least three witnesses saw a man in a motorized wheelchair near the truck just before it caught fire. Police located Rendon, who has one leg and uses a motorized wheelchair, and who police have encountered on multiple occasions including the previous three nights in a row, the charges state. In one of those incidents, Rendon “threatened to blow (a) homeowner up acting as if his battery to his electric wheelchair was a bomb,” according to the charges.
As police spoke with Rendon, “Frank was very agitated about not wanting to leave. Frank then threatened (a police officer) and medical personnel who was on scene, and anyone around him, with blowing them up. Frank had his charging cord to his wheelchair in his hand and acted is if it were a detonator,” the charges state.
Court documents note that “Frank is also listed as mentally unstable in the police data system.”
