A former air traffic controller who planted homemade bombs at the homes of former co-workers in Grand Junction was sentenced to 10 years in prison today by a federal judge.
Robert Burke, 54, pleaded guilty in October to malicious damage to a building used in interstate commerce.
U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn could have sentenced Burke within a range of 5 to 20 years. Blackburn accepted a plea agreement and agreed with the recommendation of prosecutors and the defense in the case, among other considerations, in handing down the sentence.
Victims from Grand Junction, and former colleagues of Burke, asked the court for the strongest sentence possible.
“It makes me sick,” victim Nan Borton said of the sentence.
Nobody was injured in the blasts and only minor property damage was reported in Grand Junction after three of the bombs exploded. Two others were defused.
Burke had worked for Serco Group PLC, a British company that staffs air traffic control towers at airports in Grand Junction and 55 other locations. He was fired in 2004 after working for Serco for four years.
