Transporting Explosives Gets North Caldwell Man 5 Months in Prison

A 20-year-old North Caldwell man was sentenced Wednesday to spend the next five months in prison for carrying chemical explosives across state lines without a license or permit. 

Described as being "obsessed" with explosives, Nicholas Gallo went to Pennsylvania on Jan. 8, 2012, and blew up potassium chlorate and magnesium in a polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, pipe without a license or permit issued by the U.S. Attorney General. The potassium chlorate mixture is considered to be an explosive by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. 

Gallo was additionally sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Court documents show Gallo bragged about the January trip on his Facebook page. Soon after, Gallo was admitted to the emergency room of a New Jersey hospital on Jan. 19, 2012, with burn injuries from a potassium chlorate explosion. 

Gallo pleaded guilty to the charges in February. 

The investigation began when Gallo withdrew from the University of South Dakota on Jan. 17, 2012. A month later, one of Gallo’s parents contacted the school and asked for Gallo’s belongings to be either stored or shipped back to his home in North Caldwell.

Police said that when the school was packing up Gallo's belongings, incendiary mixtures and materials were found in his dormroom. Among the materials recovered were improvised thermite and red iron oxide.