FBI: Man Put Devices Resembling Pipe Bombs on Power Lines

(BOSTON)  A man accused of putting devices resembling pipe bombs on high-voltage power lines left a note threatening to attack other utilities and to publish instructions on how to make similar devices online, according to an FBI affidavit released Monday.

Danny Kelly, 61, of Chelmsford, was arrested Saturday, days after firefighters responded to a brush fire near National Grid electric power lines in Tyngsborough.

Authorities said they found metallic, cylindrical devices hanging from the power lines. One of the devices was found on the ground and is believed to have started the brush fire.

An FBI affidavit says Kelly was charged more than a decade ago with cutting about 18 telephone and cable lines and threatening to cut more unless he received payment. He pleaded guilty to extortion.
Kelly is due in federal court later Monday on a charge of attempting to maliciously damage and destroy property used in interstate and foreign commerce and in an activity affecting interstate and foreign commerce by means of fire. His attorney, assistant federal public defender Joshua Hanye, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The affidavit says Kelly left a note in Tyngsborough saying he was going to war and threatening attacks on critical infrastructure. The note rails against the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI, calling them “lying, bottom feeding, and corrupt organizations.”


“Now I fully understand that I cannot win. That is not the point. The point is to get some of the damage our corrupt DOJ, Courts have done to my family, in their goal to punish me for standing up for my rights,” the letter states.

“So the question is whether or not you will help me get the Courts to actually respect the law and undo the damage they did to my family,” the letter states.

“If not, I might as well do my part in destroying the society.”

In the affidavit, FBI Special Agent Scott McGaunn said that during his 2005 prosecution, Kelly told the FBI he was very familiar with electric wires and could easily take out the power to Boston.
During another interview, Kelly claimed he had sought the FBI’s help for a case against his former employer.

“He complained that he had lost his home and his family had been destroyed, and that he was targeting the victim companies so that they would suffer, just like lying government employees,” McGaunn wrote.

Kelly has also filed over a dozen lawsuits, including one against Chelmsford, complaining about the town’s nativity scene, “which he perceived to be a direct affront to his family,” according to the FBI.