A Harrisburg man has been sentenced to up to nearly two years in prison for building a pipe bomb as part of plan to kill his wife’s lover.
In August 2014, Ferguson Township police responded to reports that a pipe bomb was sitting in an SUV outside a home in Pine Grove Mills. When police arrived on scene, Fredrick Rice, 53, reportedly told police that had built the bomb and the detonator, both of which were sitting in his vehicle.
According to a news release from the Centre County District Attorney’s office, Rice told police that he had built the bomb out of anger because his wife was having an affair. He reportedly told police that he’d planned to attach the bomb to the vehicle of his wife’s lover, then trigger an explosion once that person was inside the car.
The Pennsylvania State Police bomb squad and the Penn State police bomb squad were both called to the scene. They were able to secure the bomb after evacuating the immediate area. According to the news release, bomb squad members referred to the device as the largest pipe bomb they had ever seen.
in December, Rice pleaded guilty to the felony manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction and multiple misdemeanor charges of endangering another person. Prosecutors argued for a state sentence of at least two years due to the premeditated nature of his plan.
Rice was sentenced on Monday to spend between 11 and 23 months in the Centre County Correctional Facility, followed by four years of probation.
A video from the August incident can be seen below:
