Mesa police found a functioning pipe bomb in the backpack of a man who says he found it in a tunnel under the Loop 202.
Police report that on June 18 at about 2:30 a.m., they made contact with 38-year-old Charles Shannon Madaras, regarding a traffic violation on a bicycle.
An officer received consent to search his backpack, and as he began to do so, Madaras allegedly informed him there was a fake pipe bomb hidden in a handkerchief inside. He described the device as a silver pipe with two caps and a fuse.
Madaras also told police there was no explosive material inside.
The Mesa police bomb squad was called to the scene near Ellsworth and Broadway roads. They scanned the bomb and found some material inside. The bomb squad detonated the device and determined it was a "fully functioning explosive ordinance."
Madaras reportedly told police that he found the device about a week prior, under a small pile of dirt at the end of an underground tunnel at Pueblo Avenue and the Loop 202. He said he was planning on selling it because he is homeless.
Madaras has been charged with weapons misconduct.
