http://web.journalgazette.net/content/fwgazette/2001/12/18/news/18i_1a_nws_catbomb.htm
   
                         Tuesday, December 18, 2001
                                      
                      Final 2 admit role in cat-bomb 
             Huntington judge wants to sentence all 3 together 
                                      
                            By Rebecca S. Green 
                            The Journal Gazette
                                      
   HUNTINGTON - Two of three men accused of strapping a homemade bomb to
   a cat pleaded guilty Monday to possession or manufacturing of a bomb.
                                      
    The third man, who already pleaded guilty, went to Huntington County
      Circuit Court for sentencing Monday, but was told by Judge Mark
     McIntosh he will have to wait until the January sentencing of the
                               other two men.
                                      
   "I want to keep everybody in suspense," McIntosh said, adding it would
              be a good idea to keep the three cases together.
                                      
       Ryan Nolan, 21; James Voland, 19; and Richard Alford, 18, were
                            arrested in October.
                                      
    Investigators said they had constructed a bomb using a baby bottle,
               black powder and papers for a fuse on Oct. 6.
                                      
    The three Warren-area men then duct-taped the bomb to a young black
     cat that lived in the house where Alford was staying on West Third
                                  Street.
                                      
        The cat escaped and was later found on the roof of a nearby
    convenience store in Warren. The fuse was lit, but the bomb did not
                 explode, according to reports at the time.
                                      
     Alford and Voland pleaded guilty Monday morning in Circuit Court.
   Nolan had pleaded guilty Nov. 26. As part of the plea agreements, the
    Huntington County prosecutor's office dropped a charge of attempted
                              animal cruelty.
                                      
              All three are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 14.
                                      
      Nolan was to have been sentenced Monday, but McIntosh decided to
                    postpone the hearing until Jan. 14.
                                      
                   The state did not object to the delay.
                                      
    Stephen Michael, Nolan's court-appointed defense attorney expressed
                             some reservations.
                                      
      McIntosh reminded the defense that Nolan had waived his right to
        sentencing within 30 days by pleading guilty to the charges.
                                      
    Nolan and Voland remained in the county jail Monday. Alford had been
                         released on $20,000 bond.