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Posted: 2:53 PM- A federal magistrate on Monday ruled that an Illinois man charged with planting a bomb at the Salt Lake City library is a danger to the community and ordered him held until his case is resolved.
In handing down her ruling, Brooke Wells said Thomas James Zajac has a history of misdemeanors and noted that he is on probation in Illinois for pouring glue into a card reader that gives drivers access to toll roads. Although the offenses appear to have resulted in minor sentences, they appear to show a pattern of harassment, the magistrate said.
Federal prosecutors have charged the 53-year-old Zajac with one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Prosecutor Carlos Esqueda said last week that the case will be presented to a grand jury on Tuesday and that prosecutors will ask the panel to consider additional charges, including use and detonation of a destructive device in relation to a crime of violence. That offense has a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence that must be served consecutively to sentences for other convictions.
"The nature and circumstances underlying this offense are quite egregious," Esqueda said at a Monday detention hearing.
Investigators think Zajac, formerly of Salt Lake City and Provo, carried a pipe bomb, measuring 1 3/4 inches by 1/2 inch, concealed in a white paper bag from an Arby's restaurant into the library's main branch, 210 E. 400 South, on Sept. 15.
The device exploded on the third floor of the building, destroying a large double-paned window but causing no injuries.
The bomb consisted of a rocket igniter purchased at an out-of state hobby store. The device apparently was mounted on a piece of cardboard with an unknown handwritten message on it, according to investigators. They say the kitchen timer probably was set to make the bomb go off in 60 minutes.
Investigators from three agencies - the FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Salt Lake City Police Department - combed through the physical evidence at the scene, interviewed dozens of library patrons and reviewed surveillance tapes. Zajac was arrested at his suburban Chicago home in Oakbrook Terrace on Oct. 27, 12 hours after authorities say a fingerprint found on a fragment of the pipe bomb led them to him. He had an initial court appearance in Illinois and was transported to Utah by federal marshals last week.
Information brought up at Monday's hearing show that Zajac was put on 24 months of probation for vandalizing government property in the glue-pouring incident, which was caught on surveillance tape. In addition, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail in Illinois for possession of firearms and also was convicted of domestic battering in an offense involving his now ex-wife.
Investigators said the Salt Lake City bomb bore similarities to an explosive device detonated Sept. 1 in a trash can inside a commuter train depot in Hinsdale, Ill., in suburban Chicago. No one was injured.
Both incidents were preceded by threatening letters sent to police in both cities, investigators said.
In addition, police in Downers Grove, Ill., have said Zajac is a "person of interest" in a 2004 bomb found by a public works employee on that city's Main Street.
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