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David Dwayne Cassady, inmate in Georgia.
Courtesy: Georgia Department of Corrections
A man serving a life sentence in a Georgia prison for kidnapping and other crimes built two bombs that he mailed to an office building in the District of Columbia and to the federal courthouse and buildings in Anchorage, Alaska, prosecutors allege.
The accused bomb maker, 55-year-old David Cassady, allegedly mailed the two explosive devices from his Tattnall County jail on January 24, 2020, according to a grand jury indictment in U.S. District Court in Statesboro, Georgia.
The bomb, which went to Washington, D.C., was mailed to the Bond Building, whose office tenants include the Justice Department.
The indictment accuses Cassady of manufacturing and shipping the bombs with the intent “to maliciously damage or destroy, by fire or explosives, any building owned, possessed, or leased, in whole or in part, by the United States.” “, and “posed a significant risk of injury to a person.”
None of the bombs exploded.
Cassady is charged with one count of manufacturing an unregistered destructive device, two counts of mailing a destructive device and two counts of attempted malicious use of an explosive.
“Protecting our personnel and facilities is a fundamental mission of our office and our law enforcement partners,” said U.S. Attorney Jill Steinberg, whose office is prosecuting Cassady. “We will also take action against inmates who commit crimes behind bars and seek to harm the public.”
Barry Paschal, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, declined to comment when asked to explain the more than four-year delay between Cassady’s alleged mailing of the bombs and his indictment in the case.
Paschal said he could not comment on details of the case beyond those contained in the indictment.
It was not clear from that charging document how Cassady allegedly made the bombs in prison, what size those devices were, how he shipped them from prison and why he chose the Justice Department headquarters and the federal courthouse and building in Anchorage as his targets.
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A spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections said, “Cassady was able to convert primarily items he was authorized to possess into makeshift explosive devices.”
“We appreciate the support of our federal partners in ensuring that this individual receives justice for his role in jeopardizing the safe operation of our facilities and, most importantly, the safety of the public,” said spokeswoman Joan Heath.
Cassady has a lengthy criminal record dating back to the late 1980s, when he was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of six counts of first-degree forgery.
Department of Corrections records show he began his last sentence in 1993 after being convicted of kidnapping, aggravated sodomy, impersonating a public official and false imprisonment.
In 2019, Cassady was convicted at the Tattnal County Jail of crimes including terroristic threats and acts, making false statements, gang involvement and conspiracy, records show.
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2024-04-05 22:07:14
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