Palm Coast man arrested in 2022 pipe bombing near neighbors' homes

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Thursday arrested a Palm Coast man accused of creating a pipe bomb that exploded outside a home on Poppy Lane in January 2022.

Jason Burns, 49, was charged with “arson in the first degree and making/placing/possessing destructive device with property damage” — two felony charges.

The incident took place at about 5:30 a.m. Jan. 27, 2022, when deputies responded to the area around 30 and 28 Poppy Lane after residents called to report a “loud explosion, a bright light and observed and smelled smoke coming from between their homes,” Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly said in a press conference Friday.

“Upon arrival, responding deputies smelled a strong odor of gas and smoke in the air and observed remnants of a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED),” the sheriff’s office said in a press release. “Fortunately, the residents were unharmed, but both the home and an adjacent home were damaged.”

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According to an incident report, deputies found “a white cap … near the roadway and to the right of the end of the driveway of 30 Poppy Lane.”

“The cap appeared to have been made of PVC and had a visible bar code on it,” the report said. “Debris, which appeared to be pieces of lined notebook paper and white PVC plastic, were located between the side lawns of 28 and 30 Poppy Lane,” as well as “an area of singed grass in an elliptical shape” near the homes.

The investigation had been ongoing since that day, Staly said, and culminated in Thursday's arrest. The sheriff thanked the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad for their assistance in the process.

What did the investigation find?

According to the sheriff’s office, the explosion was created by “a homemade pipe bomb that left a 1-inch-deep crater, 12 inches wide, only several feet from where the residents of both homes were sleeping.”

During the investigation, officials found that “the resident of 27 Poppy Lane, Jason Burns, was identified as a person of interest due to his hostility toward the victims,” according to the sheriff’s office.

According to the press release, Burns “was known” to the sheriff’s office and in the local business community “for being a prolific writer who wrote, distributed and mailed rambling rants about various claims against government, elected officials and businesses.”

While executing a search warrant at Burns’ home, officials found and “seized items that were consistent with material found at the crime scene,” including “a drill bit with PVC residue, caulking used to seal the pipe bomb, and a single sock that matched a sock found in the IED.”

Burns denied any involvement with the incident throughout the investigation, according to the sheriff’s office, saying “he was sleeping in his truck at Flagler Beach with a friend at the time of the explosion.”

“However, detectives obtained phone records and GPS data that placed him in the area at the time of the explosion,” the press release said. “When confronted with this discrepancy, he claimed a friend had his phone.”

Suspecting Burns, detectives obtained a search warrant for his DNA in January 2023. A sample was sent to the ATF’s lab in Maryland, “which determined the DNA found at the scene of the blast was a match for Jason Burns.”

“In this case, the DNA match was like winning the lottery, only instead of a cash windfall, he got an arrest warrant,” Staly said in the press release.

Burns is currently being held at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility in Bunnell on $75,000 bond.

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During Friday’s press conference, Staly said the success of the investigation “reflects the type of collaboration and partnership we enjoy in northeast Florida with our local state and federal agencies.

“It also shows a message to criminals, that we will not give up, we will continue to work these cases with our partners,” he said. “And if you commit a crime in Flagler County, it might take two years like this case did, we are going to get you and hold you accountable.”

Burns is also facing an additional charge for violating his probation that stemmed from a 2023 arrest for stalking his ex-wife, in a case where he allegedly “placed multiple letters in her mailbox, one containing white powder.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Palm Coast man arrested after two-year investigation in pipe bomb case