Under some unusual circumstances, the judge presiding over Estevan provincial court matters on Monday, agreed to spare a young man a criminal record after he pleaded guilty to possessing an explosive device.
Twenty-one-year-old Derek Formosa was arrested at the North Portal port of entry on Aug. 4, 2013 when a pipe bomb was found among the belongings in his vehicle. Formosa was moving from Ontario to Alberta and drove through the United States on his way west.
The pipe bomb was his own creation, a crude device made from a one-inch diameter and 18-inch long copper pipe, stuffed with sparklers, sealed with tape on either end with a fuse hanging from one side.
A charge of making an explosive device was stayed by Crown prosecutor Andrew Davis due to the age at which Formosa is suspected of building the bomb. Neither the Crown nor defence pinpointed exactly when Formosa built the device, but it was estimated that he was 10 or 11 years old, too young to be held criminally liable under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which is used to charge minors over the age of 12.
Davis called the proposed sentence, which the Crown and defence agreed to submit to the judge, an "unusual disposition for this type of offence." After crossing an international border with a pipe bomb, the Crown suggested a conditional discharge that would leave Formosa without a criminal record would be sufficient.
After building the pipe bomb as a young boy, he was too scared to detonate it himself, so he stowed it away in his parents' house. He mostly forgot about it until his parents decided to move. He retrieved it from the house and then never found an appropriate time or place to dispose of it.
When he packed up his belongings to move to Alberta, he forgot the device was among his possessions, and he crossed into America with no trouble when the device avoided detection. When Formosa arrived at the Canadian border, however, it was found by Canadian Border Service agents.
The device was taken very seriously and a portion of the port's building was evacuated.
After he explained himself to the RCMP, the investigating officer didn't feel the young man posed a threat or had any malicious intentions, even crediting Formosa at the time in an interview with media, saying it was good he didn't just toss the device into the trash, which could have then been found by someone else.
Formosa's lawyer, Darren Kraushaar, noted his client was also lucky it wasn't found when he entered the U.S.
"He made it through the U.S. border. If he hadn't, I don't know where he would be today," Kraushaar said.
He told the judge the entire situation has been blown out of proportion, as national media outlets latched onto the story of the man who attempted to enter Canada with a pipe bomb.
Judge Karl Bazin accepted the joint submission outlining a 12-month conditional discharge, calling the case an "ill-thought out idea as a result of something you did early on."
As part of the conditions, Formosa must complete 75 community service hours and is prohibited from possessing weapons for the duration of the order.
