Bouquet Bomb Figure Given 15-Year Term
A millionaire landlord convicted in a scheme to deliver a bomb disguised as a bouquet that injured his estranged wife and one of her co-workers was sentenced today to 15 years in prison.
Peter Pilaski, 54, denied any role in the November, 1986, bombing before U.S. District Judge Robert Schnacke sentenced him on charges of making a bomb, possession of a bomb, aiding and abetting use of the bomb to damage federal property, causing personal injury and conspiracy to make the bomb.
Assistant U.S. Atty. John Lyons said Pilaski could be eligible for parole in about five years.
He was convicted in December of arranging for Shaun Small, 28, his alleged homosexual lover, to dress up in a wig, makeup and a bellhop uniform and drop off the booby-trapped flower arrangement to Melanie Pilaski at General Services Administration headquarters here.
Melanie Pilaski, 42, and co-worker Pamela Castro were injured. Mrs. Pilaski had filed for divorce a month earlier.
Small was convicted in July of destroying government property and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors agreed to the sentence in exchange for his trial testimony against Pilaski. When the trial began, Small initially refused to testify, then relented.
The prosecution contended that Pilaski was a Svengali-like manipulator of the younger man’s emotions and daily life.
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