GREAT FALLS — Guy Murray Culligan, who admitted pouring gasoline on an ATM machine and setting it on fire, causing an explosion, was sentenced in federal court in Missoula on Thursday.
Culligan, 58, pleaded guilty in January to malicious use of explosive material.
U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen presided, and sentenced Culligan to 38 months in prison and three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said in a news release.
On November 7, 2019, the Missoula Police and Fire departments responded to a report of an explosion at First Security Bank and found an ATM that had been set on fire. The ATM was damaged as a result of the explosion, which was caused by a buildup of gasoline vapors inside the machine. Damage to the ATM was about $30,000.
A witness told investigators about seeing Culligan light the ATM on fire and calling the Missoula Police Department to report the incident. The explosion shattered the windows of Culligan's van and the witness provided a description of the vehicle.
Officers found Culligan in a damaged van with its windows blown out. Culligan had singed facial hair and an ATM keypad was in his vehicle. Police also discovered a cylindrical object on the floor board and determined it was a pipe bomb filled with .22 caliber bullets. Culligan told police that he tried to blow up the ATM because it had seized a debit card that he was trying to use.
He admitted buying a dollar's worth of gasoline with the purpose of lighting the ATM on fire and that the pipe bomb had been built by someone else years earlier. Culligan admitted he poured gasoline over the ATM and threw a lit object at it to ignite it, causing the explosion.
NOVEMBER 8, 2019: Culligan suspected of setting fire to an ATM
