{"id":278348,"date":"2026-09-03T19:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/278348\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T19:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:34:12","slug":"morgantown-man-pleads-guilty-to-bringing-grenade-into-pittsburgh-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/278348\/","title":{"rendered":"Morgantown man pleads guilty to bringing grenade into Pittsburgh airport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) &#8211; A Morgantown man pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing an unregistered firearm, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Zachary Velling, 27, entered security at the Pittsburgh International Airport and put his carry-on in the X-ray machine where TSA noticed a \u2018suspicious object.\u2019 <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Allegheny County Police Department determined it to be a \u2018MK24 MOD 0,6 Bang\/Flash diversionary hand grenade,\u2019 which is considered a firarm and destructive device under federal law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Velling\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-wdpa\/pr\/west-virginia-man-who-attempted-carry-flashbang-grenade-plane-pleads-guilty-possessing\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-wdpa\/pr\/west-virginia-man-who-attempted-carry-flashbang-grenade-plane-pleads-guilty-possessing\">sentencing is January 7<\/a>, with a potential maximum sentence of 10 years and a potential fine of up to $250,000. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A Morgantown man is accused of bringing the flash-bang grenade shown above to the Pittsburgh...\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4Z5XPGUN6FDYFBXG6OJ3DEIXDY.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>A Morgantown man is accused of bringing the flash-bang grenade shown above to the Pittsburgh International Airport.(Allegheny County Police Department)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Prior Coverage: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wdtv.com\/2024\/11\/13\/live-grenade-found-morgantown-mans-bag-pittsburgh-airport\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wdtv.com\/2024\/11\/13\/live-grenade-found-morgantown-mans-bag-pittsburgh-airport\/\">Live grenade found in Morgantown man\u2019s bag at Pittsburgh airport<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Editor\u2019s note: The video for this story will be added once it airs. Please check back for the updated video.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WDTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) &#8211; A Morgantown man pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing an unregistered firearm, according&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-278348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}