GARRETT COUNTY, MD – A 53-year-old Garrett County man, Christopher Heinrich Beitzel, was recently arrested and charged with multiple felonies after investigators found two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in his home. Beitzel is currently being held without bond at the Garrett County Detention Center.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal’s Bomb Squad was led to Beitzel’s home after his fingerprints were found on a separate device discovered on a property in Accident, Maryland. This device, an “M-80” covered in several dozen BBs and wrapped in duct tape, was rendered safe by investigators before being sent to the Maryland State Police Forensic Science Division.
After Beitzel’s identification, Deputy State Fire Marshals and Maryland State Police McHenry Barrack conducted a search warrant on his home located in Accident-Bittinger Road, where they found two more similar devices. Bomb Technicians described that if these devices had been used, the shrapnel could have caused physical injury or even death to anyone in the area.
Beitzel now faces three counts of manufacturing a destructive device, three counts of possessing a destructive device with intent, and one count of reckless endangerment.