SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – An Oakland man known as the East Bay Mail Bomber was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison on Thursday for sending explosive devices through the U.S. mail and injuring two people.
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In both cases, the packages sent by Ross Gordon Laverty missed their intended targets.
Laverty, 61, was convicted by a federal jury in Oct. 2020 "of mailing explosive devices through the U.S. mail on two occasions with the intent to kill or injure the addressees," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The mail bombs were motivated by "revenge," officials said.
The first package, meant for a San Mateo County corrections officers who strip-searched Laverty while he was in jail in April 2014, was delivered to a Whole Foods employee who lived in East Palo Alto and had the same name as the officer. The victim opened the package on Oct. 19, 2017, "blowing a hole in the backyard fence and ultimately landing in the neighbor's backyard."
The victim sustained injuries to his hands and stomach.
In the second incident, authorities said Laverty was targeting an Alameda police officer that previously arrested him. The officer's wife opened the package on Nov. 24, 2017, noticed wiring inside and "quickly threw it" away. The package then exploded and the woman suffered a head injury.
"This desperate and shocking attack on our partners in law enforcement did real harm to customers of the U.S. Postal Service," Acting Inspector-In-Charge Kevin Rho of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, San Francisco Division, said in a statement following the sentencing on Thursday.
Laverty also received a term of three-year supervision following his release from the 40-year sentence.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick sentenced Laverty.
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