South Plainfield Man Whose 'Explosives' Nixed Parade Out Of Jail

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ — On Friday, a judge released Thomas Kaiser from the Monmouth County jail, where he's been held for the past two weeks, since he was arrested Labor Day weekend for allegedly bringing explosive devices into Donovan's Reef seaside bar, and then discarding those explosives in public trash cans in South Plainfield. But the judge had several conditions for Kaiser:

1. Bi-weekly check-ins with the court (One week by phone, one week in person)

2, No alcohol or drug usage

3. No firearms

4. Seek employment

5. No return to Donovan’s Reef

6. No contact with fireworks

7. No contact with the band Guns For Hire or attendance at any of their shows.

Kaiser maintains the explosives were a gift for the band, Guns For Hire; however, when they were found on Aug. 31 inside Donovan's Reef, it prompted a mass evacuation of the seaside bar.

Police say that once Kaiser, 55, who lives in South Plainfield, realized police were going to search his home on West Crescent Parkway, he hastily deconstructed his homemade explosives, and and threw them into four different trash cans near the route of the South Plainfield Labor Day parade— hence, why the parade was abruptly canceled.

Gov. Phil Murphy and his wife Tammy were supposed to walk in the town's Labor Day parade, and the borough of South Plainfield canceled the entire parade at the last minute out of "an abundance of caution."

Explosives were found in a steel garbage bin outside the Grant Elementary School parking lot on Cromwell Place. In the bin, the New Jersey State Police Bomb Unit found fuses, a plastic bottle of "Pirodex" and a bag containing explosive powder, authorities said.

The other locations were Cady Lane near the intersection of Maple Avenue, the side of Cedar Lane and the intersection of Kenyon and Edgare avenues. "The devices field tested positive as explosive-type destructive devices," according to the NJ State Police Bomb Unit.

Related: Stunning New Details In NJ Parade Explosives Case (UPDATED)

Kaiser has been charged with second- and third-degree offenses for possession of a destructive device.

Kaiser's brother maintains that all his brother had were fireworks, and that this is all an overreaction by prosecutors in two New Jersey counties, Middlesex and Monmouth.

"It's ridiculous the way people are shooting from the hip and falsifying stories," Kaiser's brother told 1010 Wins. "It's one firework. I know they're illegal in the sate of New Jersey. He knows they're illegal in the state of New Jersey. But it's a firework. It's not a bomb."

Kaiser’s attorney, Paul Zager, told the court his client is a hardworking plumber who “made a mistake," reported NJ.com.

“He’s not a man who was out to hurt anyone,” Zager said.

"His brother can say what he wants, but to use the term 'fireworks' is ... just not accurate," a police source close the case told Patch. "These were crude, rudimentary explosives that could have been quite dangerous."

Kaiser does not have a criminal record, and it doesn't appear he was on law enforcement's radar prior to this incident.