Hunched over in a wheelchair, clutching a blanket and mumbling answers to a public defender, 57 year-old Guy Culligan made his first Justice Court appearance via video from the Missoula County Jail on Friday afternoon.

Court records indicate that Culligan has been charged with three felonies, arson, criminal mischief and possession of a destructive device.

It is alleged that on Thursday morning at about 10:45, Culligan doused the ATM at the First Security Bank location on East Broadway with a flammable substance and then used a pipe bomb as an explosive device to damage the machine.

Police spokesman Travis Welsh said witnesses then said Culligan fled the scene in a gray minivan and was located a detained a short time later.

He was arrested and charged later that afternoon and placed in the Missoula County Jail on $50,000 bond.

Deputy County Attorney Carrie Garber asked Judge Alex Beal to continue Culligan’s current bond, and related part of his criminal history.

“In addition to the extreme nature of the allegations in this particular case, there is a prior history of bail jumping and failures to appear,” said Garber. Culligan had scored a Level One passive on his PSA report, meaning he could be released on his own recognizance. “Despite the PSA score, this court is aware that is only one of the tools the court can use to exercise its own discretion in setting bond. We’re asking the court to exercise that discretion and continue to impose the $50,000 bond.”

The public defender asked Judge Beal to release Culligan on his own recognizance so that he could receive medical treatment outside the jail, since he was in a wheelchair.

However, Judge Beal took Culligan’s past criminal history and the serious nature of the charges into account and continued Culligan’s bond at $50,000.

His preliminary hearing was set for November 18, and he was remanded back to the jail.

If convicted on all charges, Culligan could spend up to 30 years in prison and be fined a total of up to $50,000.

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