A federal judge this morning ordered a man the government contends is a member of a Clarion County militia to remain incarcerated pending trial.

Morgan Jones, 64, of Lucinda, is charged with illegally selling an AK-47 to undercover officers investigating area militias. During a search of his property, agents found 73 weapons.

Testimony over two days before U.S. Magistrate Judge Amy Reynolds Hay revealed that Mr. Jones, a chemist, had a variety of home-made weapons on his property, including a flamethrower, a cannon and a 50-caliber weapon.

Yesterday, government witnesses said they found a number of chemicals on Mr. Jones' property, including 15, 55-gallon drums of potassium chlorate, which can be used as a tent sealant, that were leaking into the ground.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret E. Picking argued that Mr. Jones should be detained because he is a danger to the community.

"Morgan Jones' Clarion County property is a ticking time bomb," she said. "And Mr. Jones is just the man to light the fuse."

She compared him to the eccentric scientist is the Back to the Future movies, but with "a sinister twist."

"Mr. Jones has demonstrated that he will return again and again to use his . . . dangerous toys," she said.

But Richard Schomaker, Mr. Jones' attorney, disagreed with that statement.

"He liked to build things, and nothing was unsafe," he said.

He argued to Judge Hay that the entire case is an overreaction by the government.

None of the chemicals on his client's property was illegal, he said, and Mr. Jones knew how to keep the chemicals separated to ensure their safety.

"This idea of a militia," Mr. Schomaker said, "it was a patriotic type of gesture."

Mr. Jones is among four men charged in separate but related investigations by the U.S. Attorney's office.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.