Bomb Maker to Judge: “I Know This All Looks Really Bad”
An Idaho dad who stashed so much pipe bomb making material in the crawlspace under his kids' bedroom that it took police two days to remove it all will be spending the next 13-25 years in prison.
Joshua Finch, 33, says that he believed that an electromagnetic pulse was going to knock out all the electronics in the nation, and that he needed the roughly 100 pounds of explosives, pipe-bomb making materials and the assault rifle that police found under his home to protect his family from the chaos that was sure to follow.
"I know all this looks really bad, but I wasn't trying to hurt anyone," Finch told District Court Judge Thomas Neville during his sentencing hearing on Monday. He had pleaded guilty in May to aggravated assault, possession of destructive devices or bombs, two counts of injury to a child and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
Finch's girlfriend notified authorities after he began mysteriously spending his nights locked in a shed while also trying to purchase guns and body armor on Craigslist. It took the Boise Police Bomb Squad two days to clear out the explosives from under the home.
Finch's defense attorney said that Finch's beliefs in the breakdown of society came from his parents, and that alcohol and student loan bills played a role in the case.
