By Trent Spiner
The Concord Monitor
CONCORD. N.H. — Police officers in Oregon said they found the makings of a pipe bomb over the weekend in the motel room of a Barnstead man who is on the run from local authorities.
William Edward Fenick, 53, is facing felony charges in New Hampshire after the police said he called 911 to report a fake bomb in the parking lot of the McDonald’s on Loudon Road in Concord last summer.
At the time, Concord police officers found a rented truck in the parking lot that was running with its doors locked. A gas can and a makeshift religious shrine with incense and a partially empty bottle of rum were found nearby, court records show. There was no bomb.
After calling in the threat, Fenick took a bus out of the city. Police officers caught up with him last November. At the time, a police prosecutor said Fenick was mentally ill. A Concord District Court judge ordered him held on $2,500 cash bail, but he was allowed to be released on personal recognizance if he checked into a mental health hospital.
It was not immediately clear yesterday when Fenick traveled to Oregon.
The police there said they pulled him over during a routine traffic stop in Woodburn, Ore., on June 3. Officers from Woodburn took him into custody after discovering an outstanding arrest warrant for failing to appear at a court hearing in New Hampshire.
While being held at the Marion County Correctional Facility since his arrest in June, Fenick asked someone to clean out the belongings of his motel room at the Woodburn Inn, the police said.
The police were called after that person found what appeared to be a pipe bomb - a metal pipe withcaps about 3 feet long - in the room.
A local television station reported that a bomb squad was called in about 11:30 a.m. Saturday, prompting a highway surrounding the scene to be blocked off. The police also evacuated six nearby houses and about 15 businesses.
The pipe bomb was not active and posed no threat, the TV station reported.
A spokeswoman for the Woodburn police said no charges have been filed in connection with Saturday’s incident, and the case is still under investigation.
Because Fenick signed a waiver of extradition before being released on bail, he is expected to be transferred back to New Hampshire to face criminal charges from last summer’s incident, according to Melissa Kraft, spokeswoman for the Marion County Correctional Facility.
In New Hampshire, he faces up to 3.5 to 7 years in prison on charges of creating false public alarm.
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