Man gets 25 years for trying to bomb Oklahoma bank
OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma man was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison after being convicted of trying to blow up an Oklahoma City bank with a massive vehicle bomb, according to federal prosecutors.
Jerry Drake Varnell, 26, of Sayre was sentenced in federal court in Oklahoma City. When he is released from prison, he’ll be under supervision for the rest of his life.
Varnell was arrested in August 2017 as he tried to detonate what he believed was a half-ton bomb outside BancFirst in downtown Oklahoma City. The FBI had learned of Varnell’s plan and an undercover agent posed as someone who could help construct the bomb, but instead provided inert materials.
Varnell was convicted in February 2019.
Defense attorneys claimed Varnell was entrapped, and his parents testified that he has paranoid schizophrenia, even though he was found mentally competent.
“We are thankful he did not get a sentence of life” in prison, which prosecutors had sought, defense attorney Vicki Behenna said Monday.
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