Hays man sentenced to 10 years for planting pipe bomb at East Hills Business Park

A man will spend a decade in federal prison for planting a pipe bomb under a rival’s truck in Lawrence’s East Hills Business Park.

Donald E. Parsons, 57, of Hays, was sentenced to 120 months for the May 16, 2007, crime, acting U.S. Attorney Marietta Parker’s office announced Monday afternoon.

Parsons pleaded guilty in December to one count of making a destructive device.

Lawrence police responded to the business park after the owner of the truck found a pipe bomb hanging under his vehicle, said Jim Cross, U.S. attorney spokesman.

The bomb was constructed with metal pipe, two pounds of smokeless powder, bolts, screws, ball bearings, black electrical tape and a detonator made from a mouse trap, prosecutors said.

Parsons admitted he and the intended victim, a worker at the business park, had dated the same woman before she broke off the relationship with Parsons and began living with the other man, Cross said.