Would-be bomb-maker gets 14 years
An explosion cost Alphonso Mobley Jr. his hands as he made a bomb for use in a robbery plot 13 months ago.
On Monday, it cost him 14 years of his life.
Mobley received that prison sentence as part of a plea agreement to one count of aggravated arson and one count of criminal use of an explosive device, plus a gun specification. Four other counts were dismissed as part of the agreement.
Mobley, 27, managed to sign the plea form despite having just his right thumb.
The bomb explosion on the morning of April 5, 2016, tore through the kitchen of a vacant house in the 600 block of South Hampton Road on the East Side.
After paramedics rushed Mobley to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, Columbus police and fire investigators determined that he and an accomplice, Roberto M. Innis Jr., 22, were mixing triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, when the blast occurred. The same chemical explosive was used in the Nov. 15, 2015, terrorist attacks in Paris.
In addition to the materials for chemical explosives, investigators found a gun in the house.
Innis, who wasn’t injured in the explosion and called 911 for help, was sentenced last month to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to the same charges as Mobley.
The sentences for both men were recommended by prosecutors and defense attorneys and imposed by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Colleen O’Donnell. Both must register on the state’s arson registry for the rest of their lives.
Innis had confessed that he and Mobley planned to detonate a bomb at a local school, then take advantage of the distraction to rob a bank or armored car. A note found at the scene of the explosion included racial slurs directed at black officers, which the plotters, who are black, hoped would misdirect investigators.
Assistant Prosecutor Warren Edwards said Mobley “should count his blessings” that the plea agreement was still being offered after Mobley rejected it two months ago and seemed reluctant to accept it Monday morning.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad things in my 17 years down here, but a threat to blow up a school is unique,” Edwards told the judge.
Had Mobley gone to trial and been convicted on all the charges for which he was indicted, he could have been sentenced to as long as 33 years in prison.
Mobley made a brief statement in court, denying Edwards’ contention that he had shown no remorse.
“I am genuinely sorry,” Mobley said. “I was definitely going through some depression at the time, being homeless, having to squat in the home that I was in. But it still isn’t an excuse for what I’ve done.”
Innis had told investigators that they were aligned with a sovereign-citizen movement, which adheres to so-called common law and doesn’t recognize the authority of government.
However, both men used court-appointed lawyers, something typically rejected by sovereign citizens, and made no anti-government remarks during their court appearances.