BOMB THREAT

Inmate Built Bombs Behind Bars and Sent One to the DOJ

Another was sent to a federal courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska.

A Georgia inmate built two bombs in prison and mailed them to an Anchorage federal courthouse and the Department of Justice in D.C. Federal prosecutors say David Dwayne Cassady, 57, was held in a Georgia state prison when he made the bombs, per the Associated Press. Both explosive devices were functional, a plea agreement states. However, neither exploded. The inmate, who identifies as a transgender woman and goes by the name “Lena Noel Summerlin,” was sentenced to 80 years in federal custody. The inmate said the reason for mailing them was “in retaliation for prison conditions.” Prosecutors did not say how the bombs were built, but the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) told WBS-TV that “Cassady was able to manipulate primarily items he was authorized to possess into makeshift explosive devices.” Cassady has been held in multiple Georgia prisons since the early 1990s for crimes including kidnapping and aggravated sodomy, according to records from the GDC. Since the federal system has no parole system, Cassady will spend the rest of their natural life incarcerated.