Police charge suspect with planting false bomb in subway scare

NEW YORK (AP) - A 26-year-old homeless man from West Virginia faces charges for allegedly placing two devices that resembled pressure cookers in a New York City subway station.

Police announced on Saturday evening that Larry Kenton Griffin II has been charged with the placing of a false bomb.
Griffin was taken into police custody early Saturday in the Bronx, a day after he was seen in surveillance video at Manhattan's Fulton subway station holding one of the objects police identified as rice cookers and determined they were not explosives.

He was taken to a hospital for treatment and observation. Police did not specify what, if any, injuries or condition he was being treated for.
The discovery of the cookers Friday led to an evacuation and roiled the morning commute. Cameras near the World Trade Center captured a man with a cart putting cookers in two locations in the subway station.

A third cooker of the same type was later discovered 2 miles away on a sidewalk.

Authorities later determined they were not explosives.
A West Virginia sheriff's department says Griffin has a criminal history in the state.

The sheriff's department says it has arrested the 26-year-old at least three times in the past eight years, including one in 2017 alleging he sent obscene material to a minor.

The sheriff's department says a warrant for Griffin's arrest was issued in March after he missed drug screenings as part of pretrial supervision.

Griffin's cousin told West Virginia television station WSAZ-TV that he is a good person with mental health issues.
It's unknown if Griffin has an attorney who can comment.