Pennsylvania officers discover police uniform in bomb suspect's home :: Today :: PostStar.com

Pennsylvania officers discover police uniform in bomb suspect's home :: Today :: PostStar.com

HUDSON FALLS -- The man arrested for carrying a bomb in a backpack on Saturday had a police badge and a police uniform with a Hudson Falls patch in his western Pennsylvania home when it was searched after his arrest, officials said.



Hudson Falls Police were trying Monday to determine from where the uniform came, said Police Chief Randy Diamond. The uniform was being sent to Hudson Falls by police in Washington Township, Pa., who found it in a home rented by Jason A. Babson.

The metal police badge apparently was not from the Hudson Falls Police Department, Diamond said. It's possible Babson acquired a Hudson Falls Police uniform patch (patch collecting and trading is common) and affixed it to a uniform he acquired elsewhere, Diamond said.

"It's concerning to think he had access to a police uniform," Diamond said.

Babson, 29, remained in Washington County Jail without bail on Monday, charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon in connection with a homemade explosive device that police found in a backpack he was carrying early Saturday.

Police came in contact with him at around 3 a.m. after people on Martindale Terrace called to report he was acting strangely while walking on the street. Diamond said Babson tried to run from police, who caught him.

In his backpack, officers found a can with multiple fuses and a powder inside that police believe was explosive. The State Police bomb squad took possession of it.

"This was not your run-of-the-mill bomb. It was pretty sophisticated," Diamond said.

Babson is a native of Hudson Falls and was staying at his parents' home on School Street last week. He was to return to the Middle East this week.

In light of Babson's ties to the Middle East, the FBI was notified and had his home in western Pennsylvania searched. Diamond said he had been told materials had been seized, but he was not sure of what they consisted. Diamond said FBI agents were in Hudson Falls over the weekend.

A call to the FBI's office in Albany was not returned Monday.

Witnesses indicated that Babson made comments about using a bomb at a school in Hudson Falls, but when he was questioned by Hudson Falls Police Detective Scott Gillis, he said he was planning to dispose of the bomb in the Feeder Canal.

Gillis said Babson indicated he was distraught over a family issue related to visitation of a child he had with a woman in Minnesota.

Babson is a geologist for Paul C. Rizzo Associates, an engineering and consulting firm based in western Pennsylvania. He has lived in Washington Township, Pa., in recent years but was assigned to a project at a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates over the past year, officials said.

The arrest was not Babson's first. Police said he was arrested on misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of fireworks in 2002 while a student at SUNY-Brockport. According to a Feb. 13, 2002, report in the college newspaper, he was found to have illegally possessed a semiautomatic handgun, which was among a cache of weapons such as knives, shotgun ammunition and a machete that were seized from his dorm room and car.

Police said the records related to that arrest were sealed, and Babson later transferred to SUNY-Cortland, from which he graduated.