Massachusetts Man Pleads Not Guilty to Booby Trapping Ex-Wife's Dryer to Explode
In August, Dean Weeks, a firefighter in Clinton, Massachusetts, was ordered to fix his ex-wife's dryer as part of his divorce settlement. But apparently, he was still having some issues with his ex, so he (allegedly) did the reasonable thing, which is: he booby trapped her dryer to explode the next time she used it.
Unfortunately for Weeks (and fortunately for his ex), the plan didn't entirely succeed, although the bomb did explode. Doreen Weeks, Dean's ex, said she heard a cartoonish "tick, tick, and boom."
The "boom" burned Doreen's legs, so much so that she was taken to the hospital via ambulance, but more tragically, it blew her tiny dog clear out of the apartment's second floor window.
In an interview with The Courier Press after the incident, Doreen said she believes her ex-husband is responsible and also that he threatened her as she was being taken to the hospital.
I did not think so initially, when he was out back uncoiling copper tubing," she said Wednesday. "But I do now. It's just something you don't want to believe about a man you'd been married to for 15 years. And then he threatened me in the ambulance and was trying to corroborate a story with me.
Police say Weeks showed up soon after the explosion and attempted to scare Doreen into silence. Two of his co-workers were also instructed to lie if they were questioned by police.
Weeks pled not guilty to charges of assault and battery with a deadly weapon in court on Thursday. No word on the dog's condition. The video on CBS Boston reports the dog is okay.