A Greenfield man was sentenced to probation earlier this month after pleading guilty to possessing an unregistered firearm in February. The charge stemmed from the man detonating a homemade car bomb in his neighbor’s unoccupied vehicle in December 2018.
Four years of probation, mandatory mental health treatment, and no contact with the victims was a better outcome than a prison sentence in this situation, Acting US Attorney John Farley wrote in a sentencing memorandum out of the state’s US District Court dated May 12. The victims to the crime agreed with the sentencing, according to the document.
On the morning of Dec. 1, 2018, Alex Arsenault, 35, blew up a Jeep Grand Cherokee sitting outside the home of neighbors Leela and James Conway. The blast from the homemade explosive damaged the vehicle’s passenger door and blew out the window, windshield, moon roof, rear window, and parts of the dashboard, according to court documents. The FBI took control of the investigation, and ultimately arrested Arsenault in November 2019 after matching materials found at the blast site to ones found in Arsenault’s home, as well as his online purchases over the previous months. Arsenault has been out on bail since his arrest, as previously reported.
“The defendant’s conduct was serious and dangerous. However… the defendant’s mental health had substantially deteriorated, and he was suffering from psychotic episodes in which he irrationally believed that he was being harassed,” the sentencing memorandum read, referring to Arsenault’s state of mind at the time of the incident.
In the long run, the victims recognized that incarceration would likely increase Arsenault’s danger to the community rather than lessen it, according to the document, which asserted that consistent mental health treatment is a key element of rehabilitation and community protection. Arsenault is further ordered not to live at his former Greenfield residence, nor visit unless accompanied by a preapproved party, according to the document.