No Bail For Maynard Man Charged With Placing Explosive Devices

MAYNARD (CBS) -- Police arrested a man Wednesday morning in connection with a suspicious device found earlier in the week.

Maynard Police said William O'Neil, 51 of Maynard, is charged with placing an explosive device and possessing an explosive device, and that more charges may follow. They say he put two different Maynard neighborhoods on edge by placing homemade bombs near houses.

He was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing in Concord District Court Wednesday.

He was arrested at his home around 5:30 a.m., two days after a neighbor called 911 to report a suspicious package left on his porch.

"We don't have a motive at this point," said Maynard Police Chief Mark Dubois. "It did seem random. That's something that I think they'll continue to try to figure out.

Near O'Neil's home, one neighbor simply said "good" when told O'Neil was arrested.

Police said he left the most recent bomb in a neighborhood full of kids, a block away from his home.

Heather Hunt and her son Noel recently moved to the area, and she found the arrest disturbing.

"It's frightening to think that he could stumble upon something and get really hurt," Hunt said of her son.

The Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad rendered that device safe, and authorities said a fingerprint found on that device linked it to O'Neil.

Police also said they suspect O'Neil in a similar incident that took place on Walcott Street on October 29. That device was detonated.

Police said they've had several minor run-ins with O'Neil, but bombs left at houses were a new level.

"We're very lucky," said Chief Dubois. "Both of these devices had the potential to seriously injure somebody."

The devices were described as small cylinders full of propane with an ignition device.

O'Neil has been employed by the Weston DPW for years.