FAYSTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont State Police say homemade explosives injured two men last week and that one of them lost three fingers in the blast. The other pleaded not guilty in court Thursday.
Pat Livingston says he was working on his farm last Tuesday night when he heard something unexpected. “Heard a blast. it definitely wasn’t a gun,” he said. And It wasn’t just one explosion. “After one of the blasts, I could see a haze across the road. There was like a light smoke-type color.”
Joseph Heim, 47 pleaded not guilty Thursday to a number of charges including possession of a destructive device. Court documents say he took his daughter’s boyfriend, Abdulbary Sirajuddin, a 22-year-old Norwich University student — to set off homemade explosives near his house on Phen Basin Road as a way to bond. They put the explosives on rocks, and even frogs.
Neighbors, including Irene Pluntky-Goedecke, heard the blasts. “I felt the house shake,” she said.
The young man went to light one device but police say it immediately exploded, taking off several of his fingers, and also injuring Heim.
“Then the screaming, and I said, ok, now they have had their fun… Well, it wasn’t fun apparently,” Pluntky-Goedecke said.
Evidence collected indicates the explosives were homemade M-80s, small devices that can pack a big punch. Police also found commercial fireworks and several explosive powders in Heim’s home.
Heim was released on conditions that he not leave his home, be monitored by his girlfriend, and not possess any explosives.