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William Krywos, 42, was upset by a noisy steam pipe, authorities said.
Defense attorney Frank Lucianna entered a not-guilty plea in Hackensack on Monday for Krywos, who two decades ago caused a pair of blackouts that affected 32,000+ Bergen County customers.
Prosecutors obtained a new indictment against him last month after a judge said the original charges were meant to prosecute terrorists. Krywos is now charged with causing $2,000 in damage to his neighbor's property, stalking the victim and his 6-year-old child and causing harm to the youngster.
Described at the time as intelligent but neurologically impaired and emotionally disturbed, Krywos got probation and a $700 fine in 1996 after admitting he switched off electricity to tens of thousands of utility customers during five break-ins at PSE&G substations in Paramus and Waldwick three years earlier.
Those affected included the Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, Paramus Park Mall and individual homes and businesses in Ho-Ho-Kus, Midland Park, Ridgewood, Saddle River and Waldwick, as well as traffic lights and police communications.
Police also charged Krywos with possession of an unexploded pipe bomb that was planted near the annual Lions Club carnival outside Waldwick High School.
Krywos, whose late father had been vice president and chief chemist for United-Guardian Inc. in Saddle Brook, has been charged with at least five other felonies since then — and was convicted of making threats in 2004 after being charged with arson, stalking and criminal attempt, records show.
The community college dropout has collected disability much of his adult life and has taken on odd jobs for neighbors, Lucianna said.
After getting into a dispute over the pipe with his 47-year-old Duncan Road neighbor this past May, authorities allege, Krywos used some type of launcher to fire feces at his house and backyard swing set.
Police later reported finding two vats of feces in Krywos's home.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Darryl Williams told Superior Court Judge James J. Guida on Monday that he hoped to have a formal offer for Lucianna before Christmas. Krywos remained free on $15,000 bail.
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