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Man with strange watch arrested at Calif. airport

Mycroft

Mycroft

Genius is where you find it.
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A Southern California man was arrested at Oakland International Airport after security officers found him wearing an unusual watch they said could be used to make a timing device for a bomb, authorities said Friday.

Geoffrey McGann, 49, of Rancho Palos Verdes was taken into custody Thursday night after he tried to pass through airport security with an ornate watch that had switches, wires and fuses, according to Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.

A bomb squad arrived within five minutes and determined there were no explosive materials in the watch, Nelson said. The checkpoint was closed while officers secured the area.

McGann was taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin where he was charged with possessing materials to make an explosive device, sheriff's officials said. He was still in custody Friday night and could not be reached for comment.

McGann told Transportation Security Administration officers that he's an artist and the watch is art, Nelson said.

While no actual explosives were found, McGann was carrying potentially dangerous materials and appeared to have made alterations to his boots, which were unusually large and stuffed with layers of insoles, Nelson said.

Read more: Man with strange watch arrested at Calif. airport, charged with having bomb-making materials | Fox News
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While I think the TSA is, many times, heavy-handed and unreasonable with their actions...I believe they made the right call in this case. It looks to me like Geoffrey McGann was making a dry-run. He needs to be investigated.
 
Mycroft said:
While I think the TSA is, many times, heavy-handed and unreasonable with their actions...I believe they made the right call in this case. It looks to me like Geoffrey McGann was making a dry-run. He needs to be investigated.
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Trial run. Yes, I think you're probably right; I wouldn't have thought about that.
 
Mycroft said:
While I think the TSA is, many times, heavy-handed and unreasonable with their actions...I believe they made the right call in this case. It looks to me like Geoffrey McGann was making a dry-run. He needs to be investigated.
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Or could have been another passenger got through with the explosive and was waiting for the device. Or the dude could just be a steampunk. However, that they just didn't confiscate the watch but instead went to the extreme of filing charges tells us there's probably more to the story.
 
Perhaps he's an eccentric and short artist who uses multiple insoles and large boots for obvious compensation reasons.
 
Could also just be a starving artist who decided to purposefully get arrested for his art so he could create some business off the free publicity.
 
Mycroft said:
While I think the TSA is, many times, heavy-handed and unreasonable with their actions...I believe they made the right call in this case. It looks to me like Geoffrey McGann was making a dry-run. He needs to be investigated.
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A funny looking watch does not warrant an arrest.I hope the man sues the **** out of TSA for this ****.
 
jamesrage said:
A funny looking watch does not warrant an arrest.I hope the man sues the **** out of TSA for this ****.
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My watch has fuses and looks exactly like a detonator, and I have giant stuffed boots. So? I didn't expect that to be a problem.



:rolleyes
 
Apparently no one thought to take a picture of this strange watch and include it with the story.

I'd really like to see a watch that could take down an airliner.
 
Fuses as in electrical fuses? Or fuses as in light me and i trail fire to the boom-boom fuses?

There isnt a picture of the watch because it doesnt look like bomb related material.
 
ecofarm said:
My watch has fuses and looks exactly like a detonator, and I have giant stuffed boots. So? I didn't expect that to be a problem.
:rolleyes
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Do you have a picture of this alleged detonator watch and with clearly identifiable fuses on it?
 
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jamesrage said:
Do you have a picture of this alleged detonator watch and with clearly identifiable fuses on it?
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I've looked some...can't find any pictures of the watch or the boots.
 
Mycroft said:
I've looked some...can't find any pictures of the watch or the boots.
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I think if it was clearly what they say it was then they would have posted pictures. I think the first sentence in that news story use the words "could be used" is a dead give away that they were acting over zealous.
 
jamesrage said:
I think if it was clearly what they say it was then they would have posted pictures. I think the first sentence in that news story use the words "could be used" is a dead give away that they were acting over zealous.
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Either that or this was a dry run with authority usurped somehow. As in the pictures where blocked and someone with the ability to block justice had the pictures excluded because it looked exactly like a bomb detonator inside and the dude had boom-boom in his shoes.

But of course thats just pure guesswork to another possible scenario.
 
Mycroft said:
While I think the TSA is, many times, heavy-handed and unreasonable with their actions...I believe they made the right call in this case. It looks to me like Geoffrey McGann was making a dry-run. He needs to be investigated.
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Yeah they made the right call. With absolutely no evidence or proof that the man was doing anything wrong, and with nothing on his possession that was illegal, we jailed him and keep him in jail for some undetermined amount of time and will bring him through the court system because he dared think that art was passable through TSA. Correct call for freedom! Oh wait.....
 
dirtpoorchris said:
But of course thats just pure guesswork to another possible scenario.
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Yup, and we no longer have to worry about proof. Just supposition, assumption, and hearsay! Huzzah!
 
Ikari said:
Yup, and we no longer have to worry about proof. Just supposition, assumption, and hearsay! Huzzah!
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As far as I know, he hasn't been convicted of anything...only charged with possessing bomb-making material. So your outrage is a bit hyperbolic, it seems to me. Anyway, if he goes to trial...that will be the time to see the proof.
 
Mycroft said:
As far as I know, he hasn't been convicted of anything...only charged with possessing bomb-making material. So your outrage is a bit hyperbolic, it seems to me. Anyway, if he goes to trial...that will be the time to see the proof.
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Yay...let's arrest everyone and put them on trial. Evidence? A watch with no explosives, a shoe with no explosives, but hey...we need to be safe, right? It will all come out in the wash, right? I mean this guy will have his day in court, so there's no reason to be alarmed at this extensive and aggressive use of government force. He'll have the opportunity to prove his innocence eventually. Until then, he gets free room and board.
 
Mycroft said:
As far as I know, he hasn't been convicted of anything...only charged with possessing bomb-making material. So your outrage is a bit hyperbolic, it seems to me. Anyway, if he goes to trial...that will be the time to see the proof.
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His rights and property are being deprived and his reputation is being tarnished without any evidence.
 
jamesrage said:
His rights and property are being deprived and his reputation is being tarnished without any evidence.
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Hey now. But don't you feel safer? I mean this guy with an eccentric watch could have blown up a plane with the no explosives he had! People should know that no eccentric items are allowed through TSA. Flying is a privilege, not a right. And as such, you can be subjected to ANYTHING in your attempt to fly. Don't fight it, don't dissent. Submit! The government is here for our protection. And if you're not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to worry about...less you try to take a strange looking watch through the TSA line.
 
Ikari said:
Hey now. But don't you feel safer? I mean this guy with an eccentric watch could have blown up a plane with the no explosives he had! People should know that no eccentric items are allowed through TSA. Flying is a privilege, not a right. And as such, you can be subjected to ANYTHING in your attempt to fly. Don't fight it, don't dissent. Submit! The government is here for our protection. And if you're not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to worry about...less you try to take a strange looking watch through the TSA line.
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The fact they only charged him with possessing materials to make an explosive device is pretty clear that they don't have anything on him.Practically anything could be used to make an explosive or explosive device.
 
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jamesrage said:
The fact they only charged him with possessing materials to make an explosive device is pretty clear that they don't have anything on him.Practically anything could be used to make an explosive or explosive device.
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As claimed by whom? MacGuyver? Bombs are from what I've seen are pretty complex and require quite a bit of intelligence to make. You ever seen a dumb bomb maker? I haven't. Even expert bomb makers can screw up and get a finger blown off from time to time.
 
I'm going to make strange looking watches and give them to everyone in the town with tickets to Hawaii. :lol:

I think that watch looks strange. Lets see that. Oh yeah, that **** is strange.
 
jamesrage said:
The fact they only charged him with possessing materials to make an explosive device is pretty clear that they don't have anything on him.Practically anything could be used to make an explosive or explosive device.
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Maybe. But taking very suspicious items onto an aircraft is sure to get attention.

He got it.
 
Hatuey said:
As claimed by whom? MacGuyver?
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You over estimate the difficulty in making an explosive device.


Bombs are from what I've seen are pretty complex and require quite a bit of intelligence to make.
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Have you ever seen a firecracker? All it's just cardboard or paper,black explosive powder, and a fuse.
 
Hatuey said:
As claimed by whom? MacGuyver? Bombs are from what I've seen are pretty complex and require quite a bit of intelligence to make. You ever seen a dumb bomb maker? I haven't. Even expert bomb makers can screw up and get a finger blown off from time to time.
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Are you kidding me? Anyone with high school science knowledge can make a bomb. Drano and aluminum foil they call a "bomb" these days. Making things explode is easy, it's the reverse which is hard.
 
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