David Dwayne Cassady, prisoner in Georgia.
Courtesy: Georgia Department of Corrections
A man serving a life sentence for kidnapping and other crimes while in a Georgia the prison built the two bombs that he sent to a District of Columbia office building and the federal courthouse and building in Anchorage, Alaska, prosecutors say.
The accused bomb maker, 55-year-old David Cassady, allegedly planted two explosives in the mail at his Tattnall County jail on Jan. 24, 2020, according to an indictment issued by a grand jury in the US District Court in Statesboro, Georgia.
The bomb that landed in Washington, DC, was sent to the Bond Building, whose office tenants include the Department of Justice.
The indictment alleges that Cassady made and sent the bombs with the intent to “maliciously destroy or destroy, by fire or explosives, a building in whole or in part owned or owned by, or leased to , United States,” and “create a substantial risk of injury to a person.”
No bomb went off.
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 primary duty of our office and our law enforcement partners,” said US Attorney Jill Steinberg, whose office is prosecuting Cassady. “We will also take action against prisoners who seek to commit crimes and harm the public from behind bars.”
Barry Paschal, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office, declined to comment when asked to explain the more than four-year lag between Cassady allegedly sending the bombs, and being charged.
Paschal said he could not comment on specifics of the case beyond the contents of the indictment.
That charging document did not say how Cassady allegedly made the bombs while incarcerated in prison, the size of those devices, how he shipped them from prison, and why he chose DOJ headquarters and the federal courthouse and building in Anchorage as his targets.
A spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Corrections said, “Cassady was able to manipulate the items he was authorized to possess into improvised explosive devices.”
“We appreciate the support of our federal partners in ensuring that this individual is brought to justice for his role in endangering the safe operation of our facilities, and more importantly, public safety,” said by speaker Joan Heath.
Cassady has a long 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.
Corrections Department records show he began serving his most recent prison stint in 1993, after being convicted of kidnapping, aggravated sodomy, impersonating an officer and false imprisonment.
While incarcerated in Tattnal County, Cassady was convicted of crimes in 2019 including terroristic threats and acts, false statements, gang participation, and conspiracy, records show.
