Pipe Bomb Suspect, FBI Fugitive Arrested in East Banning

A Desert Hot Springs man who was indicted Sept. 11 on six counts of possessing unregistered destructive devices and one count of escape from custody was arrested Monday in east Banning, according to the FBI.

Edward Allen Costa, 48, was arrested at 9:17 a.m. Nov. 11 on Interstate 10 east of Hargrave Street, according to inmate records.

Costa has been accused of illegally possessing pipe bombs he allegedly left in Palm Springs neighborhoods, and became a fugitive when he walked away from a halfway house in Rubidoux in August, according to the Justice Department.

"Over the weekend, the FBI received information that Costa had been living in the Banning area in the recent past," FBI officials in Los Angeles said in a statement Tuesday. "A joint effort by the FBI and the Banning Police Department to locate the exact whereabouts of Costa resulted in his capture on Monday in Banning, without incident."

Costa was held overnight at Smith Correctional in Banning and transferred to Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on Tuesday morning, FBI officials said.

Costa was featured on FBI posters in September with his DMV photo and description.

The indictment against Costa alleges he "illegally possessed six pipes bombs that were left in various locations in Palm Springs from May 8 through May 12 last year," FBI officials said. "Costa was initially charged in relation to the pipe bombs in a criminal complaint filed in June 2012, but those charges were dismissed to allow additional investigation. When that complaint was dismissed, Costa was charged in another case of being a convicted felon in possession of a .357-magnum revolver, as well as 106 rounds of ammunition."

Costa pleaded guilty last year to the felon-in-possession charge, and he was sentenced in January to one year and one day in federal prison, FBI officials said.

"By August, the Bureau of Prisons had assigned Costa to a residential re-entry center in Rubidoux," FBI officials said. "According to court documents, Costa signed out of the facility in order to go to a state-run employment office, but he never returned. Costa was initially charged with escape in a criminal complaint filed in federal court on August 16."

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated  the case involving the pipe bombs until September, when a federal grand jury in Riverside returned the seven-count indictment against Costa.

The charge of possession of an unregistered destructed device carries a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, according to the FBI. The escape charge carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison.

Costa was scheduled to have an initial appearance Tuesday afternoon in United States District Court in Riverside.