The suspected arsonist in the fire that destroyed the Masonic Lodge in Leesburg also had constructed explosive devices in preparation for his assault on the gathering place.
Luke Scott Pratt, 22, of Leesburg, is facing five new charges of manufacture of explosive devices.
He remained Monday at the Lake County Jail where his bond has been raised from $15,000 to $65,000.
He had already been charged in the June 14 fire that ripped through the Masonic Lodge located at 200 Richey Road.
Pratt, who lives at 3203 Casteen Road, within one mile of the lodge, later admitted to his mother that he set the fire at the Masonic Lodge, according to an affidavit of probable cause from the Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives Investigations.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Hazardous Devices Team searched his home and found five plastic devices with a hole with a large firework protruding from each of them. The devices contained ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder.
“Based upon the size and quantity and contents the devices were sufficient to cause great bodily harm or death,” the investigator wrote in the followup arrest affidavit.
Pratt reportedly admitted he had planned to use the explosive devices in the attack on the lodge, but concluded they were too dangerous.
On the night of the fire, Pratt sat in his car in a nearby parking lot, watching with binoculars to ensure everyone had left the lodge. Carrying a gas can, he walked to the front door and used a baseball bat to smash it. He poured gasoline throughout the building and used matches to light a fire. He left the building and drove away, but returned a few minutes later to make sure the fire was still burning. He left a second time, went home and went to bed.
Pratt said he was “mad at what the Masonic Lodge stands for” and said he believed the Masons had been following him. Investigators obtained a search warrant that led to the discovery of journals that detailed Pratt’s “dislike for the Masonic Lodge.”
