A 37-year-old man who was ordered to pay more than $168,000 in restitution on Wednesday has been arrested in connection with Thursday’s bomb scare at the Ector County Courthouse.
Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis said David Paul Finnegan was taken into custody in the 3500 block of Galahad on an outstanding felony warrants for tampering with a record and felony theft. Other charges pertaining to the device are pending, he said.
Finnegan’s arrest comes one day after authorities conducted a search on Finnegan’s home, but Griffis declined to comment further.
“The investigation is still very active and no further information is available for release at this time,” Griffis said.
According to Ector County District Court online records, Finnegan waived his right to a jury trial in late January in connection with a handful of cases in which he was charged with possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), unauthorized use of a vehicle, tampering with government records, possession of stolen property and two counts of injury to a child 14 years old or younger.
The exact terms of Finnegan’s plea agreement are unclear, but all of the cases appear to remain open.
Court records indicate that in the tampering case Finnegan was charged with placing his picture on another man’s temporary driver’s permit in order to “claim and recover” that man’s vehicle. The unauthorized use of a motor vehicle charge pertained to the same alleged victim’s Ford Mustang and Judge John Shrode of the 358th District Court imposed a “Bill of Costs and Statement of Fines and Fees” in the amount of $168,335 in that case the day before the device was found, court records show.
The stolen property count pertained to a forklift, records show.
A courthouse employee found what appeared to be a pipe bomb outside the courthouse around 7:45 a.m. Thursday and authorities set up barricades around the perimeter of the building for hours as Odessa Police Department’s bomb squad, ATF agents and FBI agents investigated. A high pressure water device was used to “perforate” the device around 9:30 a.m. and the courthouse was re-opened later that day, although a sexual assault trial was delayed for a day.
Griffis said Saturday the device “was deemed to be harmless, but did have some components that would be consistent with an actual explosive.”
It was the first time a device has ever been found at the courthouse, although other bomb threats have been called in, he said.
Finnegan was also charged with criminal trespass on March 11 for a February incident involving a woman.
In addition, he had a criminal mischief case filed last August and is on a pretrial docket call April 19.
