Northfield blast suspect indicted
A federal grand jury has returned an indictment against a man who law enforcement say lit a homemade pipe bomb in Northfield last month and lost a hand, court papers show.
The one-count indictment, returned late last week, charges Mark McCloud, 45, with knowingly possessing a "destructive device" not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. A federal complaint had accused the Northfield man of both possessing and transferring the explosives, but the indictment did not include the second accusation.
McCloud has a hearing scheduled for Monday at U.S. District Court in Burlington, during which he will be asked to enter a plea to the charge. If no indictment had been returned, the hearing would have been focused on determining whether probable cause existed.
Attempts to reach McCloud's attorney David McColgin on Sunday were unsuccessful.
The Dec. 9 explosion on North Street injured McCloud and several others, including his pregnant wife. McCloud was holding what he believed to be a firecracker when he lit it outside his home that evening, according to court papers. State and federal law enforcement have classified the device as a "homemade pipe bomb," described in court papers as being a 6 1/2-inch-long and 1-inch-wide metal copper pipe with plugged ends, taped closed with a green colored fuse.
McCloud lost his left hand in the incident.
In a video filmed from his hospital bed at the University of Vermont Medical Center in the days after the explosion and posted to YouTube, McCloud apologized for his actions. He said he had received the explosives from a family friend and had not realized their power until it was too late. He also said he had given several of the 11 or 12 explosives to friends but kept the biggest ones for himself.
"Nobody was doing this on purpose, and to me, it was just fun," McCloud said in the video. "I paid a big price for it. I'm sorry for anyone else I might have hurt."
McCloud remains free on conditions following his Dec. 21 initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
Among the conditions ordered by Magistrate Judge John Conroy were that McCloud appear in court when ordered, refrain from committing new crimes, maintain or actively seek employment, stay in Vermont unless otherwise approved, avoid contacting people identified as witnesses in the case, and avoid using drugs unless prescribed. He also has been ordered to submit proof of any current or future prescriptions to the federal Probation Office.
The crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
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Contact Elizabeth Murray at 651-4835 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/LizMurraySMC.