Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Friday, March 13, 1998 Page: 2A
WILKES-BARRE- A judge on Thursday reduced bail and allowed a man charged
with placing a homemade bomb in a briefcase along South Main Street to be
released from prison.
Charles Echols, 25, of Irving Place, left the Luzerne County Correctional
Facility on his own recognizance.
He had been held for lack of $25,000 bail, but Senior Judge Gifford S.
Cappellini reduced the bail to $10,000 and did not require Echols to post any
money.
As a condition of his release, Echols must refrain from alcohol and drugs
and undergo an evaluation by the Court Advocate Program.
Echols turned himself in to police on Dec. 12, a day after city sanitation
workers found the bomb. A bomb squad expert who disposed of the device said a
disconnected battery made it inoperable.
Police said Echols stated he planned to detonate the bomb to kill himself
b