Man Charged After Bomb Scare Outside Somerdale Police Station
SOMERDALE, N.J. (CBS) -- A man is facing charges after an illegally parked car near a police station in Camden County led to the response of the bomb squad.
The incident began at about 7 p.m. Tuesday outside the Somerdale, New Jersey police station on Kennedy Boulevard.
According to investigators, 39-year-old Antonio Salguero, Bridgeport, Pa., came to Somerdale Tuesday night to resolve two traffic tickets from 2000.
Investigators say Salguero parked his 2005 Ford Crown Victoria illegally by a yellow curb on the street near the entrance for the police department. An officer spotted the car and went into the court area looking for the driver.
Due to the suspiciousness of the vehicle, the police department requested the assistance of the county's bomb squad.
"[Through] further checking of the vehicle [we found] it didn't belong to a police officer and it didn't belong to a police agency," says Somerdale police chief Anthony Campbell.
During a search of the outside perimeter of the vehicle, a K-9 indicated the presence or previous presence of explosive materials inside the car.
A search warrant was eventually obtained and investigators searched the vehicle. Although a search yielded no explosives, police did charge Salguero.
The Camden County Prosecutor's Office says the fact that Salguero had been arrested in Hopewell Township in January on weapons offenses concerned police. And after a bomb squad robot broke open the trunk, three canisters of pepper spray, three incendiary devices and a police style baton, all illegal, were found.
"You can't have that weapon for an unlawful purpose and there was not a lawful purpose for him to have that weapon," saysCampbell.
Salguero says he is a self described survivalist and chief Campbell says he is a self described sovereign citizen who doesn't believe he has to follow U.S. law.
"They have to follow the laws of the United States just like everyone else," Campbell says.
Salguero was a protestor seen in Eyewitness News coverage of Occupy Philadelphia in 2011. He also appeared in a National Geographic website program called Training for the Apocalypse.
Police say the vehicle is legally registered to Salguero.
"It's more odd, not illegal to have this vehicle," Campbell says.
Police don't believe Salguero was at the police department to do any harm and say they have no reason to believe he has ever impersonated an officer.
Salguero is charged with possession of destructive devices, possession of certain weapons, possession of a weapon and transportation of weapons. He also got a ticket for illegal parking.
He was being held at the Camden County Correctional Facility on $32,000 full cash bail.
His friend, Mike Salvi, says Salguero is a good guy, husband and father of two and a volunteer firefighter in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania. He says he posted his bail and waited to pick him up after his release.
