(CNN) -- Authorities in Pennsylvania arrested a 19-year-old Russian man Friday and charged him with possession of a weapon of mass destruction, Altoona police said in a written statement.

Police officers were investigating a reported marijuana-growing operation when they discovered a homemade bomb and bomb-making materials in a suitcase, the news release said.

Vladislav Miftakhov, a Russian citizen, was arrested and charged with possessing a weapon of mass destruction, risking a catastrophe and drug-related offenses. He was arraigned Friday and bail was set at $500,000, Blair County corrections officer James McMahon said Sunday.

According to a criminal complaint, police found one pound of atomized magnesium and one pound of Chinese potassium perchlorate along with a package labeled potassium nitrate powder. They also found fuses and several containers of compressed air.

When asked what he was going to do with two devices that were found with exposed fuses, Miftakhov said "he was going to blow things up," the complaint alleges.

Miftakhov later said he only intended to set devices off in a field and wasn't going to blow anything up, the document says.

He told police that he had previously experimented with other homemade explosives in California.

Authorities found five marijuana seedlings and a grow light, the complaint says.

Miftakhov will next appear in court on February 5. He will be assigned a public defender, McMahon said.

The Pennsylvania State Police bomb squad "safely deconstructed" the device, officials said.

According to the release, Miftakhov told officers that he had purchased materials for the bomb on the Internet.

A man who lived in the same building told CNN affiliate WTAJ that Miftakhov was "the weirdest individual that I've ever met," but Andrew Leff added that he didn't think Miftakhov had done anything dangerous before.

Leff told the Altoona Mirror, which identified him as an apartment-mate, that Miftakhov had recently set off three small homemade bombs outside the apartment, leaving small craters in the ground. Another roommate, Steven Taylor, said Miftakhov was quiet.

"He barely talked," he told the newspaper.

An independent student newspaper said the Russian native is a student at Penn State Altoona, a branch of the university about 40 miles from the main campus. The Altoona campus has about 3,645 full-time students, according to the school's website.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
OMG, scientistic words! Atomized magnesium?! He was building a nuclear bomb that could destroy a playground! Think of the children!

Really? Are they really going to charge him with that? Some people....

I can understand arresting him for bomb making charges but WMD charges is a little too far.

For the purposes of US criminal law concerning terrorism,[30] weapons of mass destruction are defined as:
any "destructive device" defined as any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas - bomb, grenade, rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce, mine, or device similar to any of the devices described in the preceding clauses

 Iron_Captain wrote:
A 19 year old? That is more a boy than a man.
They shouldn't take it too serious. Young people sometimes do stupid stuff like that and I doubt he had any evil intentions.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
A 19 year old? That is more a boy than a man.
They shouldn't take it too serious. Young people sometimes do stupid stuff like that and I doubt he had any evil intentions.

Relapse wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
A 19 year old? That is more a boy than a man.
They shouldn't take it too serious. Young people sometimes do stupid stuff like that and I doubt he had any evil intentions.

People in Boston would disagree.

 daedalus wrote:

Relapse wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
A 19 year old? That is more a boy than a man.
They shouldn't take it too serious. Young people sometimes do stupid stuff like that and I doubt he had any evil intentions.

People in Boston would disagree.

People in Boston freak out about ATHF promo stunts.

 Jihadin wrote:
Well...it's interesting to put a 19 year old on a crew serve on deployments....always teamed up our youngin's with experience buddies..think I lose my mind if I see my young trooper trying to shoot the 240B sideways like a gangsta..

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 daedalus wrote:

Relapse wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
A 19 year old? That is more a boy than a man.
They shouldn't take it too serious. Young people sometimes do stupid stuff like that and I doubt he had any evil intentions.

People in Boston would disagree.

People in Boston freak out about ATHF promo stunts.

True, but Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was also 19 when he was involved in the Bostom Marathon bombing. That may be where Relapse was going with his comment.