A Texas paramedic arrested on charges of possessing bomb-making material will plead not guilty and had no connection to a fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month, his defense attorney said Saturday. 
 
 This photo provided by the McLennan County Sheriff's office shows Bryce Reed in a booking photo on Friday, May 10, 2013. Reed, a Texas paramedic who helped evacuate people on the night of the deadly fertilizer... (Associated Press) 
 
 The small West, Texas duplex home of paramedic Bryce Ashley Reed, 31, sits vacant, Friday, May 10, 2013. Federal agents said they found bomb-making materials belonging to Reed, who helped evacuate residents... (Associated Press) 
 
 CORRECTS TO SAY THAT REED IS A PARAMEDIC, NOT FORMERLY - Crystal LeDane reacts after hearing the news that her neighbor of three years, paramedic Bryce Ashley Reed, was ordered held without bond on the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Authorities arrested Bryce Reed on Friday but stressed that he has not been linked to the April 17 blast. 
 
 In a prepared statement, his attorney, Jonathan Sibley, said Reed "had no involvement whatsoever in the explosion" and will plead not guilty to the explosives charge Wednesday. The statement said Reed is "heartbroken" about the explosion, in which he lost friends, and wants to continue to help his community rebuild. 
 
 Reed allegedly gave the materials, including chemical powders, to a man on April 26, and that man called authorities, according to court documents. Authorities won't say if Reed is suspected of having the bomb-making materials at the time of the blast, or if such materials may have contributed to the explosion. 
 
 Reed was a first responder, but two days after the explosion was "let go" from West Emergency Medical Services for unknown reasons, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press sent by a regional EMS organization, the Heart of Texas Regional Advisory Council, to the state health officials. 
 
 Reed was among the most vocal residents after the fatal explosion, freely talking to reporters while other first responders declined interviews. That continued after his dismissal from West EMS. 
 
 Three days after a massive explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant, Bryce Reed climbed onto a coffee table at a local hotel where displaced families picked over donated sweatshirts and pizza. Wearing a navy blue shirt emblazoned with "West EMS," he gathered the crowd close. 
 
 "You're safe where you're at," Reed said, describing an anhydrous ammonia leak inside the rubble at the West Fertilizer Co. plant. "If you're not, I'd be dragging you out of here myself." 
 
 Officials have largely treated the West explosion as an industrial accident, though investigators are still searching for the cause of a fire that preceded the blast. A criminal investigation into the explosion was launched Friday. 
 
 That day in the hotel lobby, applause erupted when Reed stepped down. Yet no one had asked Reed to come, and in a town swarming with federal and state investigators _ who had handled all the official briefings and tightly controlled updates _ a local volunteer paramedic relaying such information was a stark contrast. 
 
 Reed described one of the West firefighters who died in the blast, Cyrus Reed, as his brother though the men weren't related. 
 
 "I will avenge this. This will get right. I don't care what it takes," Reed said when talking about what might have caused the blast. "There's one thing about Texas, that Texans understand: People talk about law and order. Well, welcome to Texas. We believe in justice. I'm going to get my justice. Period." 
 
 Reed's full-time job was at Children's Medical Center of Dallas, which confirmed Friday he had worked at the hospital as a paramedic since January. 
 
 But on the career networking website LinkedIn, what appears to be Reed's personal page suggests an unusual job history. For seven years, Reed purportedly worked as vice president of a production company that managed music artists on tour. From 2000 through 2002, Reed said he was a systems analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. 
 
 State health records show he became a certified paramedic in 2005. Following Reed's arrest, the Department of State Health Services opened a regulatory investigation into Reed's license and removed him from the roster of the West EMS, spokeswoman Carrie Williams said. 
 
 At the Czech Inn the weekend after the explosion, Reed's wife, Brittany, pulled out her phone and played a video she said was taken just days before the blast of the couple's young daughter playing with Cyrus Reed, whom her husband credited for saving his life. 
 
 Upon reaching the plant, Bryce Reed said, he saw Cyrus' truck, so he kept on driving because he was confident the firefighter could handle the call. Minutes later, the plant erupted in flames. 
 
 When Cyrus' body arrived at a funeral home three days later, Bryce Reed said he stayed there all night. 
 
 "I got to hug him for the last time. He got there at 9 o'clock last night and I was there until 4 in the morning, holding onto my brother," Reed said at the time. "And telling him I'm sorry for everything that I did." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston, Danny Robbins in Dallas and Angela K. Brown in West, Texas, contributed to this report. ||||| By all appearances, Bryce Reed was a grieving man who loved to serve his small community of West. He was a volunteer paramedic dealing with the death of his friend and destruction of much of his town. 
 
 But he may not been what he appeared to be. 
 
 He was arrested by federal authorities Friday, accused of giving an “assortment of bomb-making components” to an unnamed person in the Central Texas town of Abbott. 
 
 He has also made unverifiable claims about his education and career on his online resúmé on LinkedIn. It is unknown when it was last updated, but the bachelor’s and master’s degrees he claims he earned have been disputed by records and authoritative sources. He also claims to have held management positions with three entities that are now defunct. 
 
 The only thing that seemed constant in his life was his career as a paramedic. As late as last week, Reed admitted feeling emotionally unstable. 
 
 “I’m messed up, and I will be for a long time,” Reed told The Dallas Morning News in an interview May 2. “I’m learning I have issues that I haven’t dealt with in the past and that are coming back.” 
 
 He said during that interview for a previously published article in The News that the blast was a “career ender” because of the emotional toll it has had on his life. After being at the scene the night of the blast, he said, he did not want to be a paramedic anymore. 
 
 He was most recently employed as a paramedic for Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. He started work there on Jan. 7, a hospital spokeswoman said, and went on leave April 3. She said he remains an employee. She would not say why he went on leave or otherwise elaborate. 
 
 Records also show that two days after the explosion, Reed was “let go” at West’s volunteer EMS department, according to records and interviews. 
 
 The Department of State Health Services’ online search of paramedic licenses had shown Reed on the West department’s roster Friday morning. An EMS administrator soon emailed the agency to make the change in the database. 
 
 “Bryce Reed does not volunteer for West EMS,” according to the email. “He was let go on April 19th.” 
 
 The email offered no details about the reason for Reed’s dismissal. West EMS administrators would not comment on the investigation. 
 
 Department of State Health Services records show no sign of complaints or disciplinary action against Reed since he became a certified paramedic, spokeswoman Carrie Williams said, though the agency has opened a regulatory investigation of Reed, routine after an arrest. 
 
 “We’re looking to determine whether there is additional information that would affect certification,” she said. 
 
 The department will review Reed’s criminal history again — it does a background check at the time of certification and renewal — and get a statement from Reed about the arrest, Williams said. 
 
 Updates about fires 
 
 Despite Reed’s departure, he was continuing to involve himself in the disaster’s aftermath. 
 
 On April 20, for instance, he gave an update about small fires at the explosion site to displaced West residents at a local hotel. He told them the fires were caused by tanks onsite that were damaged and leaking gas. 
 
 West Police Chief James Lawhorn also declined to comment about the situation. He did say that his department didn’t receive any complaints about Reed posing as a city spokesman and did not handle Reed’s arrest. 
 
 As Reed is still in the custody of federal authorities and being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, his neighbors and acquaintances are shocked to hear about his arrest. 
 
 An EMS student, Amanda Atkins, said Reed was an instructor for an EMS class in West. 
 
 “I would trust him with my life,” said Atkins, who said she has known him since November. “I don’t see him being that type of person at all. He is the most caring, giving guy. I mean, wow. He’s totally not that type of person.” 
 
 But it’s not exactly known what is believable about Reed. Reed wrote on his resúmé that he holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Albany-based Excelsior College. 
 
 A spokesman for the school, William Stewart, said Reed applied to enter the associate degree program but never enrolled. Stewart also noted that Excelsior’s BSN program is open only to applicants who already are registered nurses. Reed is not listed as an RN in Texas, New York or other states, online records show. 
 
 Reed also claimed to have held management positions with at least three entities that appear to be defunct or have dead websites. One of those is the Silentium Group, for which he identifies himself as the president and CEO from 2008 to 2010. 
 
 Silentium’s addresses are listed in the El Paso area in business registration records. Those records list three directors: Reed, wife Brittany Reed and Bill Choe Morgan, who could not be reached Friday. Morgan has worked for an ambulance service in Ohio, according to federal bankruptcy court records. 
 
 Facebook posts 
 
 Back in West, neighbors who exchanged notes Friday said they quickly realized Reed had woven a different story to each of them. He told one that he was a cop and another that he worked for the government. 
 
 Also, according to WFAA-TV (Channel 8), Reed is a contact person for a fundraiser that’s raised $33,177 in T-shirt sales through the website Tee-Spring.com. A company spokesman told Channel 8 that it only issues certified checks to licensed charities, not to individuals. 
 
 Several acquaintances have accused Reed of taking donation money from fund-raisers for victim relief, but Reed disputed the claim on his Facebook page on Tuesday. 
 
 “I have not received ONE CENT for ANYTHING that I did to help with this situation. I have not been paid by the media, by press, I made nothing for delivering my brothers eulogy, and made NOTHING off of this tragedy. I was a shoulder to cry on.” 
 
 On Wednesday, in his last post on Facebook before his arrest, he thanked everyone for prayers and support and said he was taking a break from the social media outlet. 
 
 “I’m going to take a break from Facebook to reflect. I assure you that I’m ok. God bless you all, and please if you heed nothing else I have said, love one another. God bless. Bryce.” 
 
 Staff writers Wendy Hundley, Brandon Formby and Sarah Mervosh in West contributed to this report. 
 
 crosales@dallasnews.com; begerton@dallasnews.com; rdunklin@dallasnews.com ||||| See more of Bryce A. Reed on Facebook
– The Texas fertilizer plant blast first responder charged with possession of a "destructive device" will plead not guilty and maintains he had nothing to do with the explosion. Paramedic Bryce Reed, 31, was arrested after he allegedly gave materials for a pipe bomb—including galvanized metal pipe, a fuse, and several pounds of chemicals—to a man who then called police, the AP reports. Reed "had no involvement whatsoever in the explosion," his lawyer said in a statement. Authorities also say the charges have not been linked to the blast. But some larger questions about Reed are now emerging. Reed was "let go" from West Emergency Medical Services two days after the plant blast for unknown reasons, reports the Dallas Morning News. Despite this, he continued to act as a spokesperson about the fires in the media. His LinkedIn resume claims he holds a bachelor's degree in nursing from a school that says he was never enrolled. Neighbors say they were all given different accounts of his background. Others have accused him of profiting from the tragedy. "I have not received ONE CENT for ANYTHING that I did to help with this situation. I have not been paid by the media, by press, I ...made NOTHING off of this tragedy," he wrote in a defensive Facebook post.