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The six-foot tall Jacob "Jake" David Dittenhafer, 36, of Loganville, was seen with a gun wearing a dark-colored hoodie outside a home in the area of 300 block of Smith Rd, Straban Township on Monday morning, PSP Troop H PIO Megan Frazer told Daily Voice around 10:45 a.m.
The resident who called the police to the area vaguely knew Dittenhafer, including that he was a convicted felon, PSP Gettysburg Corporal Kyle Reeser explained in a separate release around 5 p.m. The caller said he was exhibiting "strange behavior" and was carrying an automatic rifle and a pistol.
Initially, the public was asked to avoid the area around Smith Road and Flickenger Road after Dittenhafer was spotted and fled on foot, Frazer said.
However, state troopers and other law enforcement personnel set up a perimeter and searched for him, taking him into custody around 10:44 a.m., Frazer said.
"A quick cursory search of the vehicle [at the scene] revealed firearms, as well as what appeared to be a pipe bomb," Reeser wrote. When a specialized PSP unit arrived to remove the bomb they found a second bomb in a backpack near another vehicle in the area, Reesr said.
Both vehicles were later towed from the area. No one was injured in this incident and the public is not in danger, Reeser concluded.
Dittenhafer was wanted on multiple warrants at the time of his arrest, Frazer explained.
He has a lengthy criminal record and infamously made headlines when he was involved in a home invasion in 2012, as Guns and Ammo reported at the time and court records show.
The event on Monday, Sept. 2 has been described as a "weapons of mass destruction" incident by State Police, although it is unclear if Dittenhafer has been charge with that offense as court documents for this latest arrest were unavailable at the time of publishing. Check back here for possible updates.
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