A man accused of throwing an improvised explosive device onto a Lawrenceville street last year did not set out to hurt anyone, his attorney said, but was most likely carrying out a “drug-fueled, ill-conceived prank.”

Charles Baker, 35, of Lawrenceville, pleaded guilty Thursday to three federal counts, including possession of an unregistered destructive device, possession of a destructive device by a convicted felon and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.

As part of a plea agreement, Baker was ordered to serve four years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. He has been in custody since two days after the Jan. 3, 2021, incident.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Vasquez Schmitt said Baker threw an IED out of the passenger window of a moving pickup around 9 p.m. Jan. 3, 2021.

The device, constructed out of a Twisted Tea can, Crown Royal bag and dozens of nails and screws, burned for about 20 seconds before exploding.

It caused damage to an SUV parked at Penn Avenue and Peoria Way. No one was injured.

Vasquez Schmitt said that Baker was identified through both surveillance video and license plate reading cameras, as well as a tip called in to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives the next day.

When Baker was arrested, she said, he had a burn on his hand.

The advisory sentencing guidelines in the case called for a prison term of 70 to 87 months, but the government and defense agreed to the lesser sentence.

Although the government requested restitution for Progressive Insurance Company of $5,244.73, Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab denied it, noting that there was no such agreement in the plea deal.

Defense attorney Jon Pushinsky told the court that, when he first heard about the case, he believed Baker’s intent in committing the crime was “to wreak havoc for some political or social reason.

“That turned out to be very untrue,” he said. “In fact, what this case illustrates is the great harm addiction can bring to a life of promise.”

As a child, Baker was a Boy Scout and progressed to become a “Life Scout.” He participated in an advanced educational program through Carnegie Mellon University, Pushinsky wrote in his sentencing brief, and was reading at a 12th-grade level by the time he was in seventh grade.

He was diagnosed with anxiety-induced attention deficit disorder, which required years of therapy and medication, Pushinsky said.

Baker’s substance abuse began when he was 14. He began experimenting with heroin at 16 and was using the drug regularly by 17.

He enrolled at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and by the end of his freshman year was making a daily round trip from IUP to Pittsburgh to buy heroin. He dropped out and enrolled at Community College of Allegheny County, but ultimately left there as well.

By 24, Baker was using a brick — or 50 individual stamp bags — of heroin a day, Pushinsky wrote.

Baker’s mother, Margaret Baker, said her son’s addiction has terrified her for years, and that many of his friends have died from overdoses.

When he has been arrested and spent time in jail, she told Schwab, she was relieved because she knew he was alive and safe.

“Charles was, I believe, looking for an escape, and became influenced by others on the wrong path inhibiting him from moving on,” his mother wrote in a letter to the court.

“I placed Charles in God’s hands a long time ago,” she said. “I love him and will always support him.”

Since his incarceration on the current charges, Margaret Baker said, she has seen remorse and a willingness by her son to make changes.

In his hearing Thursday, Baker apologized to his family and the community.

“I would like to be a positive influence on my peers and community,” he said.

Margaret Baker told the court that she hopes her son’s time clean and in the structured environment of prison will allow him to re-establish his self-esteem and further develop his talents, including working in Information Technology.

He has been working in jail as a cook and coordinates an exercise group on his pod. He also completed a program sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh on manufacturing, metallurgy and computer-aided design.

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