Bomb Suspect Strikes Plea Bargain Man Charged With Growing Marijuana After Atf Raid

A man under investigation for allegedly plotting to bomb the U.S. Court House in Spokane faces sentencing in October for growing marijuana.

Darwin Michael Gray, a 27-year-old unemployed insulation installer, pleaded guilty to manufacturing marijuana and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

He and his attorney, federal defender Gerald Smith, struck a plea bargain on July 5 with federal prosecutors, court documents show.

U.S. District Court Judge Frem Nielsen accepted Gray’s guilty pleas and set sentencing for Oct. 6 before Judge Fred Van Sickle.

Gray will remain in jail without bond until he is sentenced and get credit for the time he is serving.

In exchange for Gray’s two guilty pleas, federal prosecutors agreed to seek dismissal of a third count against Gray - use of a firearm in a drug crime.

If he had been convicted of that charge, Gray would have faced a minimum term of five years in prison.

But under terms of the plea bargain, he could get out of prison in 21 months.

“This is a normal plea agreement handled by our office,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Earl Hicks, who supervises criminal cases.

The plea agreement - unlike many others - does not promise Gray that he won’t be prosecuted for other possible crimes that have been brought to the attention of authorities.

He has not been charged in connection with what court documents say was a plot to detonate a fertilizer bomb at the Spokane federal building at Riverside and Monroe.

Hicks would not comment Tuesday when asked about the status of that investigation.

The alleged plot was uncovered by the FBI a week after the deadly April 19 bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.

While agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms were investigating the alleged Spokane bombing plot, they discovered Gray was growing marijuana.

ATF and Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Gray’s home at 2913 E. Nora on May 5 and found 43 marijuana plants in a commercial growing operation.

Court documents say agents found bomb-making books in the home, but no fertilizer or other components used to make explosive devices.

Shannon Scacco, who was living in the home with Gray and two children, was not charged in the case. She subsequently married Gray in jail.

, DataTimes