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McKees Rocks bomb-maker sentenced to federal prison
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Michael Steven Cech showed a man how to build a bomb with the understanding that it would be used against a federal witness and was sentenced today to 15 years and eight months in prison for distribution of information regarding explosives.
At a sentencing hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Kitchen showed a video of Cech, 42, of McKees Rocks, demonstrating to a federal informant the mechanics of building a gunpowder-packed nail bomb.
"That there will take out two houses this way, and a house that way," Cech said in the video. "It's going to do what you want. It's going to do every bit of what you want."
The informant's face was electronically distorted in the video, which was shot using a hidden camera.
The informant told Cech that he needed to eliminate someone who was set to testify in a drug trial. Cech traded his knowledge, plus most of the bomb's parts, for a .45-caliber handgun and $300.
U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose imposed the sentence, which was at the high end of federal guidelines of 12 1/2 to 16 1/2 years.
First Published January 16, 2013 12:10 pm
