A Florida woman who was found to have made dozens of homemade bombs will get mental health treatment over prison after pleading guilty.
Michelle Kolts was living with her parents in 2019 when they discovered 24 bombs filled with nails, screws, and pellets, books about terrorist bombings, more bomb-making materials as well as a hit list tucked away in her bedroom, Fox 13 News reported. (RELATED: Man Planning On Detonating Bomb In D.C. On Election Day Arrested In New York)
Kolts, who was 27 at the time, was subsequently arrested and slapped with charges that could have sent her to prison for 100 years if found guilty, the outlet reported.
When Michelle Kolts’ parents found homemade pipe bombs in her bedroom back in October 2019, they feared the worst. https://t.co/CfX03pLz5a
— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@FOX13News) April 6, 2023
Three years of mental health evaluations, however, determined that Kolts was mentally unfit to stand trial after being diagnosed and treated for schizophrenia at the state hospital where she was being held, Fox 13 reported. As such, Kolts’ attorney, Barry Taracks, argued that the answer to Kolts’ case was mental health treatment, not prison.
After years of negotiations with prosecutors, Taracks was able to deliver a deal that would do just that.
In exchange for pleading guilty, prosecutors agreed to reduced the number of charges for making, possessing and discharging a destructive device from 24 counts to 10, adding that Kolts will be required to undergo twenty four months of community care followed by 15 years probation, the outlet reported.
Kolts will also come away with a clear criminal record as Judge Leann Goudie opted to withhold adjudication, the outlet reported.
“She’s not going to suffer the stigma of a conviction on any of those counts as long as she stays crime free and abides by the terms of her probation,” Taracks told Fox 13, adding that “her family is very excited.”
Once a bed is made available, Kolts will be transferred from jail to a mental health facility to continue her treatment, the outlet stated.