A man who left a bag of bombs Downtown during the 2020 George Floyd protests won't have to go to prison.
U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose on Monday gave Matthew Michanowicz a sentence of time served and three years of probation with the first six months on home detention.
Michanowicz, 53, of Duquesne Heights, pleaded guilty in August to possession of an unregistered destructive device following an indictment in 2020.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Smolar argued for a prison term in the range of 30 to 37 months, saying the devices could have hurt or killed someone. Former U.S. Attorney Scott Brady had said Michanowicz was not a protester but an "agitator."
Michanowicz's lawyer, Ken Haber, filed his sentencing memo under seal because of "extremely sensitive information" about his client's history and characteristics, but he had said in earlier proceedings that his client had become addicted to opiates and sought treatment in Florida.
Ms. Smolar said that Michanowicz has a history of substance abuse that began at a young age and was "at its peak" in the year before his arrest for planting the bombs.
He used up to five bags of heroin a day, had been an inpatient at a Florida abuse clinic in February 2019 and was receiving vivitrol injections as recently as May 2020. In addition, she said, his ex-wife reported that she found empty stamp bags and alcohol bottles in their house prior to his arrest.
Michanowicz planted a backpack filled with Molotov cocktails near PNC Plaza on May 31, 2020, during the Downtown protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Pittsburgh police were called to the plaza the next day, June 1, for a report of a suspicious backpack near a bike rack under a stand of trees. Officers discovered three devices and called the bomb squad, which determined that they were spent pepper spray grenades with wicks held in place by foam spray insulation.
Surveillance video showed Michanowicz arriving at the scene on a bike and planting the backpack. On June 3, officers on patrol spotted Michanowicz with his bike and arrested him.
He told federal agents that he rode the incline from Mount Washington to check on the aftermath of the protests, then rode to the spot where he planted the backpack.
A search of his house turned up fuses on his workbench, spray foam insulation and 10 camouflage backpacks like the one he planted.
The bomb squad and ATF said the bombs were improvised devices filled with gasoline and capable of causing death.
First Published: December 6, 2021, 8:14 p.m.
Updated: December 7, 2021, 3:43 p.m.
