OU student arrested at Oklahoma Citry airport free to resume classes

Wednesday, August 17th 2005, 11:30 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ A University of Oklahoma student accused of transporting an explosive device into Will Rogers World Airport last week is free to begin attending classes when the fall semester starts Monday.

Charles A. Dreyling Jr., 24, who is free on $10,000 bail, remains a student at the university, OU spokeswoman Catherine Bishop said Tuesday.

He is one semester away from completing an aviation management degree, his lawyer Kent Eldridge said.

Dreyling was arrested at a security checkpoint on Aug. 10 after a Transportation Security Administration employee noticed something suspicious in his carryon luggage as it went through an X-ray machine.

The device was described in an FBI affidavit as a carbon dioxide cartridge filled with gunpowder that could be detonated when connected to a power source such as the batteries Dreyling had in his electric razor and in his cell phone, which were also in his carryon bag.

Former Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys, who is Dreyling's landlord and his longtime friend, said Dreyling had created a ``glorified firecracker'' and then forgotten that it was in his luggage.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security documents obtained by The Norman Transcript newspaper indicate federal agents who searched Dreyling's residence found gunpowder, carbon dioxide cartridges and wires as well as a computer with a video of detonation of a device similar to the one transported into the airport.

A preliminary hearing for Dreyling is scheduled for Aug. 31.

Meanwhile, Larry Kettler, a federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration, was presenting awards Wednesday to the screeners who spotted the device in Dreyling's bag.