Mykyta Panasenko (MyFoxNY)
A Jersey City man was arrested for having explosives material at his home and carrying two improvised explosive devices on a train to New York, just eight days before the Boston Marathon bombings.
He was charged on the same day the blasts rocked Boston, the Jersey Journal reported Thursday. Authorities told the paper there was no indication he planned to detonate the devices.
Jersey City police spokesman Stan Eason confirmed to the paper Rutgers alum Mykyta Panasenko, 27,was charged but gave no further details.
Panasenko was charged with having at his home on April 5 two improvised explosive devices made from a cylinder containing the propellant powder Pyrodex, the newspaper reported.
He was also charged with recklessly creating widespread risk of injury or damage to a building by constructing the devices, and with having the explosives material on April 7 aboard a NJ Transit Train leaving Hoboken, New Jersey, and bound for Suffern, according to the report.
A statement from unnamed law enforcement authorities said “there is no indication at this point of the investigation that he intended to detonate a device in his building or on the transit system,” according to the paper.
“Police recovered components of an explosive device at his home, not a completed device,” the statement said, according to the Jersey Journal. “However, the investigation revealed that he did transport completed devices from his home at some point.”
Panasenko currently lives in Jersey City, New Jersey but is originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, according to his Facebook page.
Panasenko moved to New Jersey after graduating from Cal Tech with a degree in physics to attend Rutgers where he got a Master’s degree in applied mathematics, according to his Linkedin page.
After graduating from Rutgers, he worked for Citibank as a securities analyst before moving on to work as a mathematician at High 5 Games, a company that creates games for the casino industry.
With Reuters.