March 23, 2020
By News Director Jared Atha
An Sayre man was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison after being convicted of trying to blow up an Oklahoma City bank with a massive vehicle bomb, according to federal prosecutors.
26-year old Jerry Drake Varnell was sentenced in federal court in Oklahoma City. When he is released from prison, he’ll be under supervision for the rest of his life.
Varnell was arrested in August 2017 as he tried to detonate what he believed was a half-ton bomb outside BancFirst in downtown Oklahoma City. The FBI had learned of Varnell’s plan and an undercover agent posed as someone who could help construct the bomb, but instead provided inert materials.
Varnell was convicted in February 2019.
Defense attorneys claimed Varnell was entrapped and his parents testified that he is a paranoid schizophrenic, even though he was found mentally competent.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence in the case.
