A criminal complaint has been filed in U.S. District Court against an Odessa man in connection with the April 7 bomb scare at the Ector County Courthouse.

The complaint details that David Paul Finnegan, 37, is charged under a statute pertaining to false information and hoaxes.

A courthouse employee arrived at work shortly before 8 a.m. and found a black, tubular device with an expletive written on it and deputies evacuated the courthouse, surrounding county offices and private business, court documents state.

Once the device was rendered safe by bomb technicians, the technicians determined no explosives were present and the device largely consisted of a PVC pipe, candles, a condiment bottle, plastic grocery bags, a trash bag and a wristwatch from a Claire’s store.

According to court documents, surveillance video caught a man leaving the device shortly before 5 a.m. and leaving in a van that bore the license plate of a Cadillac Finnegan was once arrested in.

The van was found behind Finnegan’s girlfriend’s house and her home’s surveillance video caught Finnegan leaving the home at 4:30 a.m. and coming back at 5:20 a.m. the morning of the bomb scare, court documents state.

A further investigation revealed Finnegan was supposed to be sentenced the afternoon of the bomb scare on multiple charges including possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), unauthorized use of a vehicle, tampering with government records, possession of stolen property and two counts of injury to a child 14 years old or younger.

According to Ector County District Court records, Finnegan had also been ordered to pay more than $168,000 in restitution the day prior in a case involving a stolen Ford Mustang.

Federal court records state a friend of Finnegan’s asked him if he “wanted to go place something at the courthouse, as he was not going back to prison.” The man told authorities he declined.

On April 9, Finnegan told FBI agents he’d found the device in the back of a broken down pickup and that he placed the device at the courthouse’s entrance.

Federal court records show Finnegan and two other men were indicted in May 2010 on a charge of destruction of an energy facility. They were accused of removing copper wire from a drilling rig, causing more than $5,000 in damages and a “significant disruption.”

Finnegan pleaded guilty in August 2010 and was sentenced to two years in federal prison in November 2010, plus three years supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $235,000 in restitution.

According to court documents, Finnegan’s supervised release was revoked in 2014 after he was arrested by Odessa Police on suspicion of burglary and evading arrest and he was re-sentenced to six months in prison.

Court documents also show he was sent back to federal prison again in July 2015 for nine months for again violating the terms of his release. He was also ordered to participate in drug/alcohol abuse treatment, undergo a mental health evaluation and go through a job training program.

Upon his release, he spent 21 months on supervised release and was ordered to reside in a residential substance abuse treatment program.

According to Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis, Finnegan is likely to face new state charges as well.