Man Convicted in California Federal Courthouse Bombing Case
This guy bombed a courthouse to try to collect bomb tip reward money.
United States Attorney Laura E Duffy announced that Donny Love, Sr, was found guilty by a federal jury earlier today in United States District Court in San Diego of the use of a weapon of mass destruction and other charges arising from the bombing of the Edward J Schwartz Federal Courthouse in San Diego on May 4, 2008. The verdict follows a two-week trial before the Honorable M Margaret McKeown. According to evidence presented at trial, Donny Love, Sr, was the person who instructed Rachelle Lynette Carlock and Ella Louise Sanders to purchase explosive powder and to steal bomb-making materials. Love and others constructed pipe bombs at Love’s residence in Menifee, California, and then Love instructed and caused other persons to test pipe bombs by exploding and attempting to explode the devices.
According to testimony presented at trial, on the night of the courthouse bombing, Carlock and Eric Reginald Robinson drove from Love’s residence to San Diego with a backpack containing three pipe bombs, and Carlock then detonated the bombs at the front doors of the federal courthouse. The evidence further showed that Love was the mastermind and driving force behind the federal courthouse bombing. At the time of the bombing, he was in dire financial straits and faced significant jail time arising from two pending state criminal cases. The evidence showed that he directed the May 4, 2008, bombing for the purpose of obtaining reward money and a break on his state charges by providing information about the bombing to law enforcement.