Man charged in Boston Marathon bomb hoax held for mental evaluation

A 25-year-old man who describes himself as a performance artist was ordered held for evaluation in a psychiatric facility Wednesday after he was charged with carrying a hoax explosive device near the finish line of the Boston Marathon hours after a ceremony commemorating last year’s deadly bombing.

Kevin “Kayvon” Edson was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on Wednesday. Judge Michael Coyne set bail at $100,000 and ordered Edson sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for evaluation, Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney’s office in Boston, told the Los Angeles Times. The judge also set May 7 for the next court date.

Edson was charged with possession or use of a hoax device and making a false bomb threat, which carry up to five and up to 20 years in state prison, respectively, according to Wark. Edson was also charged with disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, and disturbing a public assembly, all misdemeanors carrying minimal jail time or a fine.

Tuesday night, hours after the city marked the anniversary of last year’s bombing, Edson was captured on video bounding down Boylston Street yelling “Boston Strong,” as dozens of reporters and police looked on. Edson’s black knapsack contained a rice cooker, which was harmlessly detonated by authorities.

Last year two “pressure cooker” bombs in black knapsacks exploded about 12 seconds apart beginning at 2:49 p.m. at the Boylston Street finish line. Three people were killed in the blasts and more than 260 were wounded.

Bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev died days after the bombing during the manhunt that shut down the city and its suburbs. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, faces the death penalty if convicted of federal charges for his role in the attack.

Edson appears to have a rich, if somewhat bizarre, existence on the Web.

“I’m a fashion designer, an entrepreneur, a performance artist, a mental patient, a blogger bloggerist, a jailbird, a college dropout and a drag queen,” a man who identified himself as Kayvon Edson says in a video posted on YouTube. “Boston, yeaaaah, dude,” he bellows in character, saying he was diagnosed as bipolar.

In an interview with the Associated Press, his mother, Joie Edson, said her son has a bipolar disorder.