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Man To Be Sentenced For Small Explosion Near NAACP Office

DENVER (AP) — A man who set off a small explosion near the NAACP office in Colorado Springs earlier this year is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in Denver federal court.

Forty-four-year-old Thaddeus Murphy pleaded guilty in August to arson under an agreement with prosecutors, saying he was not targeting the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

Murphy said he was angry at his accountant because he wasn't returning his phone calls and wouldn't return his tax records and was trying to get his attention.

Colorado Springs Bomb Investigation Outside NAACP Office
(credit: CBS)

Murphy's accountant died a few months before the explosion but it's not clear if Murphy knew that.

Prosecutors say he has a history of mental illness, including anxiety and depression. They've asked for some leniency for him because of his plea.

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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