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Salt Lake City • A Provo man accused of trying to bring an explosive device into the federal building in Salt Lake City last week will stay jailed at least until his mental health is evaluated, a judge ruled Monday.

Brandon Bushnell, 33, made his first court appearance after prosecutors said he arrived for a Social Security Administration hearing Thursday with a device known as a cricket bomb in his jacket pocket.

The device was made with explosive powder taken from fireworks, a carbon dioxide cartridge and a hobby fuse, according to charging documents. A security guard found it as Bushnell walked into the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building.

He told authorities that the filler was a powder called "flower dust" that his brother had extracted from consumer fireworks. It was similar to devices used in the 1999 attacks at Columbine High School in Colorado, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol Dain said.

She said the device put in danger about 300 people who work in the building, which was evacuated for a few hours as a police bomb squad removed it. No one was hurt.

Dain said Bushnell has not said anything to investigators that would explain the device, but she noted that his hearing was an appeal after he was denied Social Security benefits.

"There could be some anger at the people in that building perhaps," she said.

Defense attorney Daniel Hamilton did not respond to the allegations Monday but said Bushnell has struggled financially and has health problems that make it difficult to work. He said his client was seeking Social Security disability benefits.

Hamilton asked that Bushnell be released from jail, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Evelyn Furse said Bushnell could be a danger to himself and others and ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation.

The offices at the federal building are primarily for administrative workers. The FBI, IRS and federal courts have buildings elsewhere.

Bushnell is facing one count of unlawful possession of an explosive inside a federal building, which is punishable by up to five years in prison. He is scheduled to enter a plea on Dec. 4.