Nevada Bomber Is Assailed by Victim Before Being Sentenced to 75-Year Term

A man convicted of making and mailing a bomb that maimed a Nevada Highway Patrol officer was attacked verbally by his victim in court Friday before being sentenced to 75 years in prison.

Robert John Collins, 47, was convicted in December of masterminding the bomb attack that seriously injured Trooper Ken Gager 2 1/2 years ago.

In a courtroom packed with spectators--many of them uniformed law enforcement officers--Gager hurled contempt at his attacker, calling him a coward and a bully.

“I think this is a glorious day for citizens, crime fighters and victims,” Gager said when allowed to address the court before the sentence was handed down.

Speaking to Collins, he said, “If you had just a little moral fiber, you’d kill yourself.”

Gager, 44, lost his left eye and part of his left arm when he opened a package that he thought was a birthday gift from his children Sept. 8, 1993.

The explosion of the box containing dynamite, nails and fence post staples ripped a hole in the kitchen ceiling and blew out windows of Gager’s rural Douglas County home about 40 miles south of Reno.

Prosecutors said Collins became consumed with revenge after Gager arrested him in a 1991 traffic stop in Carson City. Evidence found in Collins’ car led to burglary and insurance fraud convictions in state court, for which he is serving a 10-year sentence.

Gager, in uniform, further maintained that Collins abused and victimized his daughter, Ashley Collins, by allowing her to witness fragments of his criminal scheme.

Ashley, a seventh-grader, was a key government witness against her father and another man, Avrom Sander Finkel. She testified that she saw a box containing batteries and wires in Finkel’s garage, and that the two men remarked that it was a birthday present for someone.

Finkel was convicted in a separate trial of helping to make and mail the bomb, as well as unrelated weapons charges. He was sentenced to 86 years.

“The best thing I ever did for Ashley is get rid of this maggot,” Gager said in court.

Gager’s verbal assault prompted a brief but angry exchange between the two, with Collins yelling in response, “Why don’t you shut up for a change!”