Florida teacher cuffed for bomb-making classes

Student detonated device on golf course

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 17th February 2005 16:45 GMT

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A 42-year-old Orlando teacher was cuffed on Monday after instructing students in bomb-making techniques. David Pieski allegedly "used an overhead projector in class to give students detailed instructions in bomb-making, including advising them to use an electric detonator to stay clear from the blast", the Orlando Sentinel reports.

One of his trainees subsequently detonated a device on a local golf course, and videotaped the blast for later approval by Pieski. The teacher is reported to have described the explosion as "cool". A month later, police were called to a house near the golf course after an acid bomb alert. One youngster at the scene told officers that "Pieski showed students in class how to make the explosive device". His mother added that he had told her the bomb was a school chemistry project.

On 8 February, the authorities decided to pay Pieski a visit at work. He admitted that he had "detonated chemicals in a coffee can by a ball field four times for his students", claiming it was an experiment to "show a reaction rate". He then showed investigators a can of black powder and an electric detonator he used to set off the devices. Police examined a book marked "Demo" containing "information, including the chemical breakdown, about an explosive known to be used by suicide bombers in the Middle East" - described in the arrest report as "one of the explosives of choice for foreign terrorists" and "extremely unstable yet easy to produce".

The school confirmed that they had told Pieski he could not store explosives on site. Pieski was last week reassigned to a desk job in the school district area Superintendent's office pending the outcome of an internal investigation. He is currently on $1,000 bail following a short visit to the Orange County Jail on Monday. He faces a charge of "possession or discharging of a destructive device and culpable negligence". ®