Suspect Arrested for Possible Dynamite Explosion in Crowded Downtown Bar

Police say a suspect arrested Tuesday in Phoenixville put hundreds of people in danger and had enough bomb making materials in his hotel room to cause death and major damage.

Douglas Ferrin, 51, of Phoenixville, will be charged with the felonies of risking a catastrophe and arson, according to Phoenixville Police Chief William Mossman. Ferrin allegedly set off a stick of dynamite inside the bathroom at Molly Maguire’s Restaurant and Pub on March 12, during a downtown pub crawl.

“This was a very busy establishment at the time. It was 11:15 on a Saturday night,” Mossman said. “There was no doubt that this was an extremely dangerous situation.”

Someone had just left the bathroom prior to the explosion on March 12, and someone was getting ready to go in when the explosion occurred, Mossman said. No one was injured, which Mossman said was “lucky.” The force of the blast blew apart a bathroom stall, destroying tile and the ceiling.

Investigators immediately suspected something more dangerous than a cherry bomb or firework.

“We knew it wasn’t a firecracker. We didn’t think that it was an M-80,” Mossman said. “Immediately when we looked at the damage, we thought that it had to have been at least a quarter stick if not a half stick of dynamite.”

A week or two prior to the incident at Molly Maguire’s, Mossman said there was another explosion behind the Mainstay Inn on Bridge Street. The inn is directly across the street from Molly Maguire’s.

A bicycle patrol officer rode to the spot of the explosion and interviewed two men there, taking down their names and information. The same officer watched the surveillance video taken the night of the explosion at Molly Maguire’s.

“The officer recognized one of the guys that was leaving the bathroom shortly before the explosion as one of the guys he had interviewed from the explosion a week before,” Mossman said.

Because the officer already had the suspect’s information, police went Tuesday to question him. A maintenance worker was in his room at the Mainstay, and pointed out the dangerous materials. The room contained powder, scales and tubes.

“Basically whatever you would need to create dynamite is what was there,” Mossman said.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was contacted, as well as the county district attorney. The sheriff’s office has a bomb disposal unit, Mossman said.

The bomb squad had police create a 300-foot perimeter around the Mainstay Inn. The 100 block of Bridge Street was closed from approximately 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“We evacuated everybody that we could,” Mossman said.

He added that the bomb squad indicated that the materials found were very dangerous. It wasn’t enough to bring the entire Mainstay Inn down, but could have caused death.

“It certainly would have killed you and it would have put quite a big hole in the side of the building,” Mossman said. “And when you have that flying glass going across the parking lot and across the street, the shockwave could have blown the windows out of the businesses on the other side of [Bridge] Street, as well.”

Ferrin was tracked down at a Montgomery County hospital, Valley Forge Medical Center and Hospital, a substance abuse treatment facility. He had been at Phoenixville Hospital a week ago, Mossman said.

Phoenixville Police will check with other area departments and the county to see if any similar blasts have been reported, though Mossman said he didn’t know of any.

Ferrin was scheduled to be arraigned at 7 p.m. on the charges.

Editor's Note: Despite the statement in the video that Ferrin is 41, his birthday is October 1959, making him 51.