Arrest at Oakland Airport over odd watch

An advertising industry luminary from Southern California was jailed after he tried to board a plane at Oakland International Airport while wearing a watch that resembled a trigger device, a military shirt with built-in tourniquets and oversize shoes with hollowed-out soles, authorities said Friday.

Geoffrey McGann, 49, of Rancho Palos Verdes was arrested at 7:25 p.m. Thursday after Transportation Security Administration agents stopped him at the security checkpoint of Terminal 2, said Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.

McGann had flown in from Los Angeles on Thursday morning and was completing his round trip. He had no explosive material, told authorities that he was traveling for work and explained that the watch was an art project, Nelson said.

"When you add it all up, it just doesn't add up," Nelson said. "What reasonable person would take those items into an airport in this day and age?"

McGann was arrested on suspicion of possessing bomb-making materials and was being held Friday in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $150,000 bail. The case was referred to the FBI, Nelson said.

He said the shoes were two sizes too big, while the watch - which was set to the wrong time - had fuses and wires coming out of it, a circuit board and a toggle switch. Nelson, who is on his agency's bomb squad, said, "He had everything to make a triggering device for an IED, so that's a concern."

McGann is a prominent ad writer and executive who made his name creating ads for Nike, Subaru and other companies, according to published reports and online biographies. He has taught at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, among other schools, and is a fine-art photographer and international Jiu-Jitsu champion.