JOHNSTOWN - Ronald Allen Neeley, 51, of Duncansville supposedly was the mastermind of a 2005 plot to blow up the home of his estranged girlfriend.
Daniel Lee Swartz, 29, of Altoona admittedly threw the bomb into the modest two-apartment building at 403 Newry St., Hollidaysburg, on Oct. 16, 2005.
Charged with several serious offenses, including the malicious destruction of a commercial structure, Swartz now faces a mandatory 30 years in federal prison.
In the past week, however, the attorneys for the two men have taken issue with the way the federal government has portrayed the case and have asked U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson in Johnstown to give their clients a break.
Swartz is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday; Neeley is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 28. He allegedly has health problems that have caused delays in his case.
Neeley's attorney, federal Public Defender Marketa Sims of Pittsburgh, and Swartz's attorney, Thomas M. Dickey of Altoona, have now turned the focus of the bombing case to the third man in the alleged plot, Mark E. Burger, 44, of Duncansville, the only person so far to be sentenced.
Gibson sentenced Burger in August to 18 months in federal prison and three years of supervision after his guilty pleas for possession of an unregistered destructive device and conspiracy.
Burger's attorney, Michael Cohen of Hollidaysburg, said his client, who has diabetes and is on dialysis, is serving his sentence at a federal prison hospital in Illinois.
Cohen argued successfully for a relatively light sentence for Burger because of his poor health.
The government all along has contended that Neeley, upset because of his break-up with his girlfriend, enlisted Burger to harass and bomb the girlfriend's home.
Burger, it was contended, brought Swartz into the plot and had him toss the homemade pipe bomb into the home.
Although the bomb exploded on the first floor of the building, the girlfriend and others in the apartment were not hurt.
Hollidaysburg police, assisted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, quickly turned the spotlight on the trio. The arrests, however, came slowly, and the path to the present has been tortured at best.
Swartz admitted his guilt but had never met Neeley and therefore couldn't link him to the plot.
Burger allegedly gave a statement admitting he built the bomb, but a major issue developed over the "confession." Burger and the late Arthur Cohen, his attorney at the time, maintained the statement had been taped, but no tape could be found.
Gibson dismissed the charges for lack of a speedy trial. Burger was then reindicted by a grand jury. The most serious charges against him were dropped, and Burger ended up with a relatively minor prison sentence.
Neeley was charged in 2007, but his case dragged because, other than Burger's word, there was nothing to link him to the bombing.
In a 47-page pre-sentence petition, Sims has asked that Neeley be given a break from jail even though he faces 24 to 30 months in federal prison.
Sims has placed the blame for the bombing directly on Burger. Sims called the bombing plot "bizarre" and called Burger "a strange and mentally ill man, fascinated with guns and explosives."
She said Neeley was in Harrisburg when the bomb was thrown and said he "has consistently denied knowledge of Mr. Burger's plan to detonate the bomb."
She presented letters to the judge stating her client was a slow learner in school but is knowledgeable about his profession as a mechanic and auto body technician. She said Neeley used his money to care for his mother and other family members.
Sims presented a theory of the crime in which Neeley's mother asked Burger to help her son get over his failed romance, but Burger made things worse by harassing the former girlfriend and finally preparing the pipe bomb.
She claims Neeley knew Burger had made a pipe bomb but he don't know why.
Sims also said the only reason Swartz agreed to toss the bomb was because Burger threatened to harm his mother.
While Swartz could receive a 30-year mandatory sentence, Dickey has asked Gibson to invoke a provision that would grant the defendant a "downward departure" from the mandatory sentence.
Dickey stated Swartz has already served 51 months in prison and his cooperation with the government resulted in the guilty pleas from Burger and Neeley.
Gibson, in an opinion earlier this year, called the "potential for sentencing disparity in this case is troubling and highly unusual," Dickey stated.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Valkovci has presented a sealed statement supporting the downward departure.
Cohen said Sims' and Dickey's focus on Burger as the real force behind the bombing was "crazy."
He said Sims' statements that Burger is mentally ill and was just waiting for an opportunity to hone and use his bomb-making skills was the opposite of what occurred.
He called the bombing "a team effort, not a unilateral thing."
He called Sims' attempt to depict Burger as mentally ill and violence-prone as "weak."
"Mr. Burger is doing his 18 months in a medical facility. He's just anxious to be done with his sentence and to concentrate on his health," Cohen said.
Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.
