Suicidal man who blew up apartment pleads guilty

Bill Gang

Monday, July 26, 1999 | 11:13 a.m.

The man whose apparent suicide attempt blew apart a portion of a Las Vegas apartment complex pleaded guilty today to a single felony charge in a deal that will limit his prison time to 2 to 6 years.

In the plea bargain, if District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski determines that more prison time is warranted, Michael McGilbra can back out of the deal and stand trial on the original two felony and one gross misdemeanor charges.

The maximum sentence if he is found guilty of those charges could be 4 to 10 years behind bars.

The 40-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to endangering property by an explosive, but did so under a legal provision that does not require him to admit responsibility. Still, McGilbra conceded the prosecution could prove its case.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 19.

McGilbra apparently was attempting to commit suicide when he disconnected a natural gas line behind a stove on Jan. 4 and fell asleep, authorities said. He later awoke and lit a match to smoke a cigarette, investigators said, and the resulting blast tore the roof off his apartment and destroyed or damaged several other units at La Fiesta Apartments, 1492 N. Lamb Blvd.

McGilbra, who described the scenario to investigators, was treated only for second-degree burns.

The defendant had been scheduled to stand trial today on felony counts of endangering property by explosive and malicious injury to private property and a gross misdemeanor count of performing an act in disregard of safety.

But he chose to take the plea bargain rather than face conviction and the potential of a much longer prison term.

The bulk of the evidence against McGilbra came from the defendant, who spoke from his hospital bed to city and federal investigators.

McGilbra originally had been charged with arson, but prosecutors determined the current charges better fit the crime since the apparent intent was not to set fire to the building but to commit suicide.

Special Agent Daniel Heenan of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms testified at a Justice Court preliminary hearing early this year that McGilbra originally said he had no idea what caused the explosion.

But the agent said that McGilbra admitted his culpability after being asked if his fingerprints would be found on a natural gas valve that had been disconnected behind a stove in his apartment.

Heenan and Las Vegas Fire Department Investigator Daniel Thomas testified that McGilbra said he tried to kill himself in opening the gas valve and inhaling the fumes, but that didn't work. He only fell asleep.

McGilbra admitted that when he awoke, he lit a cigarette with the intent of blowing himself up, the investigators continued.

While the resulting blast tore the roof off a building and destroyed or damaged several units, it didn't accomplish McGilbra's goal. He was hospitalized in the burn unit at University Medical Center for several days for treatment of second-degree facial burns.

Damage from the Jan. 4 explosion has been estimated at $500,000 and today's plea bargain could require him to pay restitution, although he pleaded guilty to only one of three counts.

Three children were cut by flying glass but not seriously injured when the northwest corner of the roof blasted off Building 5, just above the unit where McGilbra had been living with his girlfriend and two children.