| A Clay County man has been sentenced to more than 21 years in prison for his involvement in a plot to bomb Sheriff Randy Holcomb.
Donnie Welch, 26, appeared in federal court yesterday. He pleaded guilty to the charges back in July for an incident that happened in August, 2005.
Police say Welch and Samuel Murphy tried to stop the sheriff from cracking down on meth labs.
Sheriff Randy Holcomb has made dozens of meth busts in the county.
They placed a bomb in the woods near the Town of Clay and tried to lure the sheriff to the location.
Murphy, according to authorities, placed an anonymous call to the sheriff falsely reporting a meth lab.
Before the sheriff received the phone message, two people looking for recyclable items opened a box containing the bomb, and it blew up.
The box was set to explode by a pressure switch. While it injured the two men, it apparently did not denotate properly.
Welch was also sentenced for making false statements to an ATF agent, and possessing a handgun while using methamphetamine and marijuana.
"This sentence should send a strong message to violent criminals thinking about harming police officers," said U.S. Attorney Chuck Miller. "Simply put, we will not tolerate it."
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