Jackson Township Bomb Lab Suspect Faces Sentencing After Quietly Pleading Guilty to Weapons of Mass Destruction — The Same Explosive Used in the NYC Terror Attack Nobody Will Shut Up About
A Monroe County man is five weeks from sentencing on a TATP guilty plea that no outlet reported, in a case where federal agencies identified the explosives and walked away — while the same compound turned up in the Gracie Mansion bombing 60 miles south
STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY — James Andrew Niedosik, the 35-year-old Jackson Township man arrested last September after police and the FBI discovered a TATP bomb lab in his basement, is scheduled to be sentenced May 28 in Monroe County Court of Common Pleas on a weapons of mass destruction conviction that not a single news outlet has reported.
Niedosik pleaded guilty on March 19 before Judge Janet Jackson — twelve days after two Bucks County teenagers threw mason jars packed with the same explosive at a protest outside Gracie Mansion in Manhattan, triggering a press conference from the Attorney General, an eight-count federal indictment, and weeks of national coverage. His plea drew no press release from the district attorney, no statement from the FBI or Pennsylvania State Police whose bomb technicians had searched that basement and identified the TATP, no mention from the ATF which helped with the controlled detonation, and not a word from WNEP, WFMZ, the Pocono Record, or the Times-Tribune — all of which covered his initial arrest in September.
TATP — triacetone triperoxide — is what counterterrorism experts call “Mother of Satan.” It killed 22 people at the Manchester Arena in 2017, 130 in Paris in 2015, 52 in London in 2005.
Same explosive. Same six-month window. Same state. Sixty miles apart. One case got the full weight of the federal government. The other got a quiet guilty plea in county court and a sentencing date nobody reported on.
What Was in the Basement
On September 24, 2025, PSP Fern Ridge troopers responded to Hazella Road in Jackson Township after neighbors called in two loud explosions. They found Niedosik near the woodline and arrested him on an outstanding warrant. He said he was igniting hydrogen balloons. His mother said something different — her son liked to play with explosives and kept them in the house.
Troopers searched the residence, found explosive materials, and halted until backup arrived. The next morning the FBI and PSP Hazardous Device and Explosive Section took over. That search uncovered the full scope: what DA Mike Mancuso described as a “clandestine laboratory in the basement” containing triacetone triperoxide, ignition devices, multiple firearms, and drugs. The PSP HDES, FBI, and ATF conducted a controlled detonation on the property that day to dispose of the materials.
Neighbors told WFMZ the blasts were nothing new — weekly explosions for over a year, each louder than the last. Some watched Niedosik walk the streets carrying a rifle, openly bragging about making explosives and detonating them in the woods.
For over a year, somebody manufactured TATP in a residential neighborhood in Monroe County, tested it outdoors, escalated the yield, and told the neighbors about it. Federal agencies showed up to identify and dispose of the materials, then handed the case to state prosecutors. No federal charges. No FBI press release. No DOJ statement.
Two TATP Operations. One Got the Press Conference.
On March 7, 2026, Emir Balat (18, Langhorne) and Ibrahim Kayumi (19, Newtown) drove from Bucks County to Manhattan with mason jars filled with TATP, nuts, bolts, and screws. They threw two devices at an anti-Islam protest outside Gracie Mansion organized by far-right provocateur Jake Lang, whose concealed background and the unanswered questions surrounding the Gracie Mansion incident this publication investigated earlier this week. Both devices fizzled. Nobody died.
Within 48 hours the federal government rolled out everything. AG Pamela Bondi called it “an alleged ISIS-inspired act of terrorism.” Deputy AG Todd Blanche said the suspects “sought to inflict mass casualties in service to ISIS.” The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force took the lead. Agents raided homes in Bucks County, found TATP residue in a Langhorne storage unit, and conducted another controlled detonation in Middletown Township.
Balat and Kayumi were indicted on eight federal counts including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction (life sentence) and attempted material support to a foreign terrorist organization (20 years). They pleaded not guilty April 15 and are held without bail. The federal complaint detailed dashcam recordings from their drive in which Kayumi said “All I know is I want to start terror, bro” and Balat predicted they’d kill between 8 and 60 people. A notebook listed “hydrogen peroxide,” “sulfuric acid,” and “acetone” — the same precursor chemicals identified in a Jackson Township basement six months earlier.
Manufacturing TATP is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 2332a and § 842. Federal agents were on scene at Hazella Road. They had jurisdiction. No federal charges were filed.
What the Court Records Show
The plea hearing had been rescheduled three times — originally set for February 24, moved, rescheduled to March 11, cancelled, then finally held March 19. Niedosik pleaded guilty to weapons of mass destruction — unlawful possession or manufacture under 18 Pa.C.S. § 2716(a), an F2 carrying up to 20 years. He also pleaded guilty to drug possession in a companion case. Five additional charges in the explosives case — risking catastrophe, two offensive weapons counts, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, REAP, and disorderly conduct — show no final disposition. Whether they were dropped as part of a deal isn’t clear from the docket. No plea agreement document appears in the filings.
A separate Pocono Township case from August 2025 — firearms without a license and drugs, filed by Officer Marc Iannazzo — is still active. A written guilty plea colloquy was filed April 9. Sentencing on the WMD conviction is May 28. This publication is the first to report the plea.
The House on Hazella Road
The property where the bomb lab was found has a history nobody covering this case has touched.
On January 4, 2008 — seventeen years before the TATP discovery — PSP Fern Ridge Trooper Joel P. Rutter responded to the same address. A 17-year-old boy had been playing video games and asked his father to look at the screen. They argued. According to police, the teenager picked up a rifle and told his father to shoot him. The father — James Stanley Niedosik, then 60 — shot his son in the face.
The teenager was airlifted to Lehigh Valley Hospital. The father was arrested. Bail set at $250,000. That 17-year-old, based on address, family name, and date of birth in court filings, was James Andrew Niedosik — the same person who would build a TATP lab in the basement of the same house 17 years later.
The father’s case (CP-45-CR-0000172-2008) landed before Senior Judge Margherita P. Worthington. Whatever was originally charged, only one count survived to Common Pleas: recklessly endangering another person, a second-degree misdemeanor. Counts one through five were gone before the information was filed.
He pleaded guilty June 12, 2008. Sentenced August 29: minimum seven days, maximum one year. Paroled immediately. Restitution of $1,553.98 to Jean Niedosik — the mother — and additional restitution to a physician in Bath who treated the gunshot wound. The prosecution was handled by Colleen Mancuso, then an ADA in the Monroe County DA’s office. The remaining charges were nol prossed October 8. The father was delinquent on restitution for years and didn’t satisfy the judgment until March 2012.
A man shot his teenage son in the face with a rifle. He pleaded to a misdemeanor. He served seven days. He went home to the same house.
James Stanley Niedosik died December 10, 2021, at St. Luke’s Hospital, Monroe Campus. He was 74. His obituary named no survivors. His son stayed in the house — the same house where he’d been shot in the face as a teenager, the same house where he’d later build a bomb lab in the basement.
The Questions Nobody Is Asking
The FBI and PSP bomb technicians were inside this house. They identified the lab. They detonated the materials. They know what was there. And the federal government walked away without filing a charge, issuing a statement, or — as far as the public record shows — connecting the Jackson Township lab to anything broader.
Six months later, two teenagers used the same explosive in what the feds are calling the biggest domestic terrorism case of the year. Federal agents found TATP residue in a Langhorne storage unit 60 miles south of where Niedosik had been cooking the same compound for over a year.
Nobody has asked whether the federal involvement in the Niedosik case produced intelligence about how he learned to synthesize TATP, whether he had contact with anyone, or whether his materials overlapped with what turned up in Bucks County. Nobody has asked whether the Gracie Mansion investigation circled back to Monroe County. Nobody has asked whether two eastern Pennsylvania TATP operations discovered within six months of each other are connected.
Nobody has identified the two other people arrested at the Hazella Road property on September 24 on outstanding drug warrants. Their names have never been reported.
Nobody has asked why federal agencies helped identify and dispose of TATP at a residential bomb lab that had been active for over a year — and then left the prosecution to state court. TATP warrants terrorism charges and an AG press conference when it shows up in Manhattan. In Monroe County it got a guilty plea and silence.
And nobody has looked at the household. A father who shot his son in the face and got seven days. A son who grew up there, stacked a record of drugs, DUIs, and weapons charges, and built a bomb lab in the basement after his father died. A mother who told police her son liked to make explosives as if describing a hobby. A property that’s been the site of gunfire, explosions, and federal hazmat operations across two decades.
Niedosik is scheduled to appear before Judge Jackson on May 28 for sentencing. The WMD charge carries up to 20 years. What the DA’s office recommends, what the judge imposes, and whether the federal government ever explains why it walked away from a TATP manufacturing operation in a residential neighborhood — all of it will be covered here.
DEFENDANT INFORMATION:
- Name: James Andrew Niedosik (also known as James A. Niedosik, James Niedosik)
- DOB: July 19, 1990 (Age 35)
- Sex: Male
- Race: White
- Last Known Address: Stroudsburg, PA 18360
PRIMARY CASE (Explosives / WMD):
- Docket: CP-45-CR-0001892-2025
- OTN: Y 1015114-2
- Court: Monroe County Court of Common Pleas
- Assigned Judge: Janet Jackson
- Status: Awaiting Sentencing — Guilty Plea entered 03/19/2026
- Sentencing Date: May 28, 2026
Charges and Disposition:
| Count | Statute | Grade | Description | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 § 2716(a) | F2 | Weapons of Mass Destruction — Unlawful Possession or Manufacture | Guilty Plea |
| 2 | 18 § 3302(b) | F3 | Risking Catastrophe | — |
| 3 | 18 § 908(a) | M1 | Make, Repair, Sell Offensive Weapons | — |
| 4 | 18 § 908(a) | M1 | Make, Repair, Sell Offensive Weapons | — |
| 5 | 18 § 6105(a)(1) | F2 | Possession of Firearm Prohibited | — |
| 6 | 18 § 2705 | M2 | Recklessly Endangering Another Person | — |
| 7 | 18 § 5503(a)(4) | M3 | Disorderly Conduct — Hazardous Physical Offense | — |
COMPANION CASE (Drug Possession):
- Docket: CP-45-CR-0001891-2025
- OTN: S 1015239-1
- Status: Awaiting Sentencing — Guilty Plea entered 03/19/2026
- Sentencing Date: May 28, 2026
- Count 1: Intentional Possession of Controlled Substance (35 § 780-113(a)(16)) — Guilty Plea
- Count 2: Use/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (35 § 780-113(a)(32))
RELATED CASE (Firearms / Pocono Township):
- Docket: CP-45-CR-0002081-2025
- OTN: R 1013763-2
- Arresting Agency: Pocono Township Police Department (Officer Marc J. Iannazzo)
- Status: Active — Written Guilty Plea Colloquy filed 04/09/2026
- Next Hearing: May 29, 2026
- Count 1: Firearms Not to Be Carried Without License (18 § 6106(a)(1), F3)
- Count 2: Intentional Possession of Controlled Substance (M)
- Count 3: Use/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (M)
FATHER’S CASE (2008 Shooting):
- Docket: CP-45-CR-0000172-2008
- Defendant: James Stanley Niedosik (DOB: 10/03/1947, deceased 12/10/2021)
- Arresting Agency: PSP Fern Ridge (Trooper Joel P. Rutter)
- Assigned Judge: Margherita P. Worthington
- Status: Closed
- Count 6: Recklessly Endangering Another Person (M2, 18 § 2705) — Guilty Plea
- Sentence: Min 7 days / Max 1 year — Paroled Immediately
- Restitution: $1,553.98 to Jean Niedosik; additional to Dr. Estelle Stein (Bath, PA)
- Remaining Charges: Nolle Prosequi 10/08/2008
PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY (James Andrew Niedosik):
| Date | Location | Charge | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02/21/2014 | Jackson Twp. | Harassment (S) | Guilty Plea — 45-90 days |
| 10/14/2018 | Stroudsburg Boro. | Drug Paraphernalia (M) | Guilty Plea — Probation 1 year (later revoked) |
| 04/16/2019 | Del. Water Gap Boro. | DUI — Controlled Substance (M1) | Guilty Plea — 73 days to 6 months + 54 months probation |
| 08/06/2025 | Pocono Twp. | Firearms Without License (F3) / Drugs (M) | Active — Plea pending |
| 09/24/2025 | Jackson Twp. | WMD / Risking Catastrophe / Firearms / Offensive Weapons | Guilty Plea (WMD count) 03/19/2026 |
TIMELINE:
- 01/04/2008: James Stanley Niedosik (father) shoots 17-year-old James Andrew Niedosik in the face at Hazella Road
- 08/29/2008: Father sentenced to 7 days–1 year, paroled immediately, on REAP guilty plea
- 10/08/2008: Remaining charges against father nolle prosequi
- 02/21/2014: Son arrested for harassment in Jackson Township
- 10/14/2018: Son arrested for drug paraphernalia in Stroudsburg
- 04/16/2019: Son charged with DUI in Delaware Water Gap
- 10/21/2020: Son sentenced on DUI — 73 days to 6 months plus 54 months probation
- 12/10/2021: Father dies at St. Luke’s Hospital, Monroe Campus (age 74)
- ~Mid-2024: Neighbors begin reporting weekly explosions from Hazella Road property
- 08/06/2025: Son arrested in Pocono Township — firearms without license, drug possession
- 09/24/2025: Son arrested at Hazella Road on WMD charges; troopers find explosives, halt search
- 09/25/2025: FBI, PSP HDES, and ATF take over search, identify TATP lab, conduct controlled detonation
- 10/02/2025: Probation violation hearing; probation revoked
- 10/06/2025: Resentenced on 2019 DUI probation violation
- 11/05/2025: Preliminary hearing waived; charges bound to Common Pleas
- 12/22/2025: Formal arraignment; case assigned to Judge Jackson
- 03/07/2026: Balat and Kayumi throw TATP devices at Gracie Mansion protest in NYC
- 03/19/2026: Niedosik pleads guilty to WMD (F2) and drug possession
- 04/09/2026: Written guilty plea colloquy filed in Pocono Township firearms case
- 05/28/2026: Sentencing on WMD and drug cases
- 05/29/2026: Hearing on Pocono Township firearms case
ATTORNEYS:
- Prosecution: First ADA Michael T. Rakaczewski, Monroe County DA’s Office, 701 Main St Ste 200, Stroudsburg, PA 18360 — 570-517-3052
- Defense: Eugene M. Talerico Jr., Esq., 450 Center St, Old Forge, PA 18518 — 570-466-3783
ARRESTING AGENCIES:
- Pennsylvania State Police — Fern Ridge (Trooper Gabrielle Van Wie)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (search assistance, bomb technicians)
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (controlled detonation)
- Pocono Township Police Department (Officer Marc J. Iannazzo — August 2025 case)
CONFINEMENT: Monroe County Prison (since 09/24/2025) — Bail denied
FEDERAL COMPARISON — GRACIE MANSION CASE:
- Defendants: Emir Balat (18, Langhorne, PA) / Ibrahim Kayumi (19, Newtown, PA)
- Court: U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- Charges: 8 federal counts incl. conspiracy to use WMD, material support to FTO, transportation of explosives
- Maximum Penalty: Life imprisonment
- Explosive Used: TATP
- Status: Not guilty pleas 04/15/2026; held without bail
- Federal Statements: AG Bondi, Deputy AG Blanche, U.S. Attorney Clayton (SDNY), FBI JTTF
James Andrew Niedosik is presumed innocent of any charges on which he has not entered a guilty plea. Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.