A trial date has been selected for the Milford Township man accused of possessing four improvised explosive devices. David W. Surman Jr., 30, and Tina May Smith, 31, of North Old Bethlehem Pike, who also faces multiple weapons charges, are both scheduled to stand trial April 15 in the Bucks County Common Pleas Court, according to information posted on a state judicial website.

            The dockets for Surman and Smith each show a start time of 9 a.m. in Room 4202 of the county courthouse in Doylestown. A judge has not been assigned in either case, according to the court records.  James O'Malley a spokesperson for the Bucks County District Attorney's Office, was not sure if Surman and Smith would be tried together.

             "[It] might be too early to tell right now," O'Malley wrote in a Feb. 19 email message.

            The district attorney has assigned separate assistant district attorneys for each defendant, according to the judicial website. Gregg D. Shore is listed as the ADA prosecuting Surman. Antonetta Stancu has been assigned to the case against Smith.  O'Malley declined to elaborate on those assignments in a Feb. 15 email message.

            Both defendants have hired private attorneys to represent them, according to the website. Paul G. Lang, of Bensalem, is working for Surman. Robert E. Goldman, an Allentown lawyer, is representing Smith. On Feb. 5, Goldman filed a motion seeking additional time to file pretrial motions on behalf of his client. Neither Lang nor Goldman returned multiple phone messages seeking comment.

            Last summer, Surman was arrested and charged with four counts each of unlawful possession of a weapon of mass destruction, possessing an instrument of crime and possessing a prohibited offensive weapon as well as one count each of illegal possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

            Law enforcement officials charged Surman on June 28 as a result of an investigation into explosions reported in the upper area of Bucks County since April 1, according to an email from Larry King, the former director of communications for the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.

            "This is a long time coming," said Matt Weintraub, the Bucks County district attorney, during a June 28 news conference. 

            State troopers from the Dublin barracks arrested Surman at his residence in the early morning hours on June 28 while law enforcement officials served a sealed search warrant, according to Weintraub.

            Law enforcement officials from the Montgomery County Bomb Squad and the State Police, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also served a similar warrant at the Consolidated Chemical & Solvents LLC, located in the 2200 block of Spinnerstown Road, which Surman owns and where he serves as president.

            According to Weintraub, the charge of unlawful possession of four IED's could earn the defendant a prison sentence of between 10 and 20 years. He described one of the bombs, 18-inches long with four fuses, as a weapon of mass destruction. "It was ready to be detonated," he said.

            In October, the Bucks County DA filed 24 felony and 24 misdemeanor conspiracy charges, along with one misdemeanor reckless endangerment charge against Smith, according to information posted on the county's Crime Watch PA website. She is accused of driving while Surman, her boyfriend, threw improvised explosive devices from an open window of a vehicle.

            Smith told police she was with Surman on three occasions when he lit something and threw it out of the window of the car according to the police criminal complaint filed in the New Britain court of District Court Regina Armitage. Smith said she always drives Surman "around," according to the affidavit of probable cause.

            On June 28, following the serving of two search warrants at Surman's home and his business, a search of Smith's bedroom at the same residence turned up a notebook with hand drawn and graphic image depictions of the explosion sites. Some of the images are dated and appear to be initialed by Surman, according to the legal document.

            A July 11 search of Smith's cell phone, seized at the residence, contained photos of multiple suspected explosive devices. One image, dated April 19, showed ten of these devices consistent with the devices seized from the residence. Another photo appears to be the site of a blast that occurred on May 13 on Lonely Cottage Road. Yet another photo depicts Smith and Surman in a black Ford Explorer driving on a cartoon roadway with a mushroom cloud exploding behind it, according to the legal document.