Life Sentence Handed Down in Arkansas Doctor Bombing

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announces a life sentence was handed down for the explosives crime that severely injured an Arkansas doctor.

Earlier this week, former Arkansas doctor Randeep Mann was sentenced in the U.S. Eastern District Court of Arkansas to life in prison for the car bombing that nearly fatally killed Dr. Trent Pierce, the former head of the Arkansas Medical Board, outside his West Memphis home. Mann was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine with restitution, which will be determined in 90 days. Restitution was estimated to be around $1.7 million.

Mann’s wife, Sangeeta Mann, was sentenced to one year in prison and a $50,000 fine for obstruction of justice.

“Fighting violent crime by investigating and prosecuting those who criminally use explosives is at the core of the ATF mission,” said Phillip M. Durham, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF New Orleans Field Division. “We will continue to deliver these criminals to the prosecutors for life sentences that are fitting for the crimes committed.”

Mann was convicted last year in the 2009 bombing of Pierce outside his home. Prosecutors say Mann blamed Pierce for the Medical Board suspending his license to prescribe narcotics after several of Mann’s patients died from overdoses. Mann, a federal firearms dealer, also was convicted of illegally possessing 98 grenades and a machine gun.

ATF is the federal agency primarily responsible for administrating and enforcing the regulatory and criminal provisions of federal laws pertaining to destructive devices (bombs) and explosives.

Since 1978, ATF has investigated more than 25,000 bombings and attempted bombings, more than 1,000 accidental explosions, and more than 22,000 incidents involving recovered explosives or explosive devices. The majority of these bombings involved the use of IEDs.