Mansfield, CONN. – A Burrillville man is being held by Connecticut State Police over an incident in June where an improvised explosive device was found at a drive-in.
Matthew Farley, 36, has been charged with criminal attempt to manufacture a bomb and breach of peace.
According to police, in early June, someone alerted staff of the “suspicious device” inside the bathroom of the Mansfield Drive-In. At the time, the drive-in was hosting a Sunday flea market and a worker on the grounds notified police. Emergency Services Unit Bomb Squad, Fire and Explosive Investigation Unit, and the FBI responded to the scene.
Bomb technicians determined the device might be live and the drive-in was evacuated. The device reportedly consisted of a cardboard box with an Altoids container on top and a blinking red light. It contained wires, clothes pins and batteries and had “flammable” and “5/6” written on it, police said.
Officers also found a shell casing, a bullet and multiple counterfeit $10 bills, designed with the image of a woman wearing a mask over her eyes. The bills had sexual messages and the term “Scarlett Nation” written on them, which police say they linked to a woman’s Twitter account.
When interviewed, the woman told police that she worked as a life coach for a man named “MJ” from Rhode Island, and that he had been sending her unwanted gifts and long, incomprehensible letters and watching her, according to reports. She later identified Farley in surveillance videos.
Police issued an arrest warrant for on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
He was arrested by Burrillville police on Thursday, Oct. 6, waived extradition and was transported to Troop C of the Connecticut State Police.
Farley is being held on a $50,000 bond and is expected to be arraigned Tuesday, Oct. 18.
