Wife pleads guilty in pipe bomb case

The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A woman whose husband pleaded guilty to charges of illegally possessing a pipe bomb has admitted threatening a witness.

Vernetta Fard, 32, of Kansas City pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of interstate telephone threats. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped one count of retaliating against a witness, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Fard's husband, Akfa H. Fard, 52, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty March 22 to possessing an illegal pipe bomb.

Akfa Fard was arrested after a woman told police Feb. 5 that Fard had left what appeared to be two pipe bombs at her apartment. She also said Fard carried a pipe bomb in his backpack and kept newspaper clippings of the Oklahoma City bombing and the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Police disabled one pipe bomb at her apartment and the second contained no explosives.

Officers then found a homemade pipe bomb at the Holiday Inn in downtown Kansas City, according to an affidavit filed in his case.

In pleading guilty, Vernetta Fard admitted that twice on March 12 she called the woman who was in another state and threatened to hurt her.

Vernetta Fard faces up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Her sentencing date has not been set.