By SANDRA E. CONSTANTINE

sconstantine@repub.com



SOUTH HADLEY - A 17-year-old Dartmouth Street teen-ager whose basement chemistry laboratory was raided in February has been indicted by a Hampshire County Grand Jury.



Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel announced the indictment of John E. Robison Jr., of 23 Dartmouth St., today.



The indictment charges Robison with three counts of malicious explosion and one count of willful placing of explosives near property. Robison is expected to be summoned to Hampshire Superior Court for arraignment later this month, according to Scheibel.



Robison, whose mother Mary L. Robison has said her son had been trying to develop a bio-fuel, had his home laboratory raided starting Feb. 15 by state and federal authorities.



"My son doesn't have a malicious bone in his body," Robison said today. "He wants to be a chemist. He wants to be a scientist. He was experimenting inappropriately, but it was an experiment."



Robison is the nephew of Augusten Burroughs, who wrote the best-selling book "Running with Scissors," which was released as a movie last year. His father, author John Elder Robison, recently published "Look Me in the Eye," a book about growing up with Asperger's syndrome.

Officials from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Massachusetts Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit, and the state hazardous materials response team removed chemicals from the laboratory and exploded them at the town landfill. A portion of Dartmouth Street was closed for three days as officials entered and exited the home. South Hadley police, fire and ambulance personnel from Fire District 1 were on standby during officials' work with the explosive chemicals



Meanwhile, Fire District 1 Fire Chief William J. Judd hopes to recover the $17,619 his department spent on the incident. Labor alone has been placed at $8,844, he said. Judd has sent an itemized list of expenses to the Scheibel's office.



"I'm still waiting for direction from the district attorney's office," Judd said. "I'm looking to recover something to the taxpayers of the town."



Judd said he had seen footage on the Internet site YouTube of the local teen-ager detonating explosives near high-tension wires, but the video was later pulled from the Web site.



Police Chief David J. LaBrie has said a resident concerned about deliveries of chemicals to the house called local police, who then notified the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which triggered the emergency response.



Officials for both Scheibel's office and the state Department of Fire Services have declined to release a list of chemicals confiscated from the home, citing an ongoing investigation.



