Apr 13, 2006 By Josh Krysak 2 min read

A preliminary hearing scheduled for a Uniontown man charged with possessing weapons of mass destruction after he was found with pipe bombs was continued Wednesday. Derek McKulka, 22, of 249 Rankin Airshaft Road, was charged Saturday with having weapons of mass destruction, causing or risking catastrophe and arson before Magisterial District Judge Ronald J. Haggerty.

A new hearing date has not been set, according to Magisterial District Judge Wendy Dennis.

Police said the charges were filed when McKulka was found with four pipe bombs after he wrecked his car on Route 40 at 2:18 a.m. Saturday in Henry Clay Township, two miles east of Dinner Bell Road.

A passenger in McKulka’s vehicle, Arron Vail, 22, of 592 N. Gallatin Ave. Extension, Uniontown, suffered minor injuries in the crash and was treated at Uniontown Hospital. He was not charged in the incident.

According to the criminal complaint filed in the case by state police trooper John Krause, when emergency crews arrived at the crash scene, firefighters found one pipe bomb lying on the ground near McKulka’s vehicle.

Krause said Walter James Wolfe, assistant chief of the Markleysburg Volunteer Fire Department, discovered the pipe bomb and brought it to the attention of troopers who were at the scene.

Krause said the state police Hazardous Device and Explosives Unit out of Hershey was called in. Route 40 was shut down from Dinner Bell Road to Pike School Road for almost eight hours as crews searched the area for more bombs. The road reopened around 10:30 a.m.

Three more explosives, according to officials, were found in the immediate area, one in a plastic box at the crash site and two in the woods, about 30 yards from the crash site.

An eyewitness to the crash said he saw McKulka throwing something into the woods before emergency crews arrived, emergency officials noted.