Cops: Jilted Suitor Tried to Frame Rival in Bomb Scares

A 54-year-old man is accused of planting three inert bombs around Staten Island in order to frame the husband of a neighborhood woman he liked, reports the Staten Island Advance. Police say the man left his homemade devices in residential areas over the last month, reports the Daily News, which describes them as "propane cylinders duct taped to vials filled with gasoline attached to a container of nails and screws." As constructed, they apparently wouldn't have been able to explode, say police, though it's not clear whether that was by design or ignorance.

The man was reportedly smitten with a 32-year-old woman in his neighborhood—the Advance says he was her ex-boyfriend—and apparently none too happy that she recently got married. With each device was an angry note that implicated her husband, says the Daily News. The suspect was being questioned this afternoon, and charges are pending. "He, we believe, is the person responsible for the three incidents on Staten Island,” says an NYPD spokesperson. (More bomb threat stories.)