Man sentenced to two and a half years in prison after trying to smuggle explosives onto Orlando-bound airliner

Lina PortmanMay 30, 2024

5 2 minutes read

A 41-year-old man was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for attempting to smuggle an explosive device aboard an Orlando-bound airliner in February 2023, prompting a massive response from the FBI, including bomb squad and a manhunt. find the suspect.

Marc Muffley of Landsford, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release at his sentencing hearing Wednesday after pleading guilty to attempting to place an explosive device on an airplane and possessing an explosive in an airport.

Prosecutors alleged that on the morning of February 27, 2023, Muffley entered Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania with a bag containing an explosive device, as well as a can of butane, lithium batteries and a lighter.

Muffley checked the bag for an Allegiant Airlines flight to Orlando, but it was blocked from being loaded onto the plane after TSA agents, who were conducting a routine X-ray baggage check recorded, were alerted to the presence of a suspicious object in the bag.

Officers found a circular compound in the bag, which measured approximately three inches in diameter and was wrapped in wax paper.

An FBI bomb technician was called to the scene and, after careful examination, it was determined that the compound contained a type of granular powder consistent with a commercial grade firework.

Two fuses were attached to the complex: a fast fuse and a so-called “leisure” fuse, which is slower and appears to have been added at a later date.

Officials telephoned Muffley over the airport public address system, causing him to immediately flee the airport and call his girlfriend to come pick him up. Muffley then changed his phone number in a desperate attempt to stop anyone from tracking him, but the FBI managed to track him down and arrested Muffley the next day.

The motive behind Muffley's actions has still not been revealed, but Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia FBI, warned that federal authorities prevented a “potentially deadly incident” from occurring.