Sandra Donovan still lives in fear 20 months after her neighbor's son, Christopher Bandy, detonated two pipe bombs in her chimney, causing an explosion that shook her Howell home.

“We were extremely fortunate that no one was hurt,” Donovan said during Bandy’s sentencing Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Detroit. “However, mentally we will never be the same ... We moved out to Howell because we thought it would be a safe community. We no longer feel safe anywhere.”

Bandy, 33 — who detonated seven pipe bombs at five homes in Whitmore Lake and Howell and admitted setting fire to a Milan home during a nine-month crime spree — was sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison. He had pleaded guilty to manufacturing an unregistered firearm (pipe bomb) and possessing an unregistered firearm (pipe bomb). No one was injured during Bandy's crimes.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts ordered the sentence be followed by three years of supervised release and that Bandy pay more than $43,000 in restitution to the Donovans' insurance company to pay for damage to their home.

Prior to being sentenced, Bandy said, “I just want to apologize to everyone, your honor, for all the trouble I’ve caused and the pain I’ve caused.”

Under a plea agreement Bandy reached with federal prosecutors, three counts of possessing an unregistered firearm (pipe bomb) were dismissed.

Washtenaw County prosecutors already dropped charges against Bandy for setting fire to his ex-girlfriend’s Milan home on April 24, 2009 to collect insurance money. The charges were dismissed in exchange for Bandy's cooperation, including testimony against his 21-year-old ex-girlfriend, Tiffany Mapes, who was a co-conspirator. Mapes was sentenced on Oct. 14 by Washtenaw County Circuit Judge David Swartz to five years probation after pleading no contest to arson of an insured property.

Bandy has been detained since his July 7, 2009 arrest by ATF agents, who still don't know why he went on a pipe bombing spree. He apparently selected his victims at random.

According to a sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Gabel, Bandy told investigators “the pipe bombings were part of an elaborate conspiracy to divert law enforcement’s attention so that he and his cohorts could rob banks.” But Bandy failed a polygraph and admitted he was lying, documents say.

Christopher Bandy

Under cross-examination during Mapes' preliminary hearing, Bandy admitted lying to numerous people and said he couldn't count how many times he lied to ATF Special Agent Ted Crews, who investigated the pipe bombings.

Bandy's pipe bombing spree began at about 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 30, 2008, when he set off two pipe bombs outside an occupied Whitmore Lake home, the sentencing memorandum says. The first bomb detonated near the foundation, while the second detonated a few minutes later, damaging the side of the home and a nearby birdhouse. Investigators found fragments of the birdhouse 50 feet from the site of the second explosion, records show.

Bandy struck again six days later, documents say, setting off a pipe bomb at about 9:51 p.m. at an intersection at a Whitmore Lake trailer park. Shrapnel from the blast damaged the siding and wall of a home, records show.

Two weeks later, Bandy detonated a pipe bomb outside a vacant Whitmore Lake home at about 10:50 p.m., documents say. A woman walked onto her porch to see what was going on when a second pipe bomb detonated five minutes later, records show. She reported seeing a "blue explosion and lots of smoke coming from the backside of her residence," the memorandum says.

On April 3, 2009, Bandy took it to another level by placing two pipe bombs inside the air intake vent in the chimney of the Donovans' home in Howell, documents say. Sandra Donovan was sitting on a couch at about midnight, while her daughter was about to step into the shower upstairs and her husband and son were upstairs sleeping.

A loud explosion shook the house, she said, shattering a basement window and damaging the fireplace. Smoke filled the basement. ATF agents recovered portions of the pipe bomb and determined that Bandy purchased materials for it at a Brighton hardware store.

Donovan said after the hearing she has no idea why Bandy targeted her home.

“We can’t sleep,” she said. “Any car that goes by our house, we look out the window to make sure they keep going. The lights on the front are on all the time and then we’ll turn the big floodlights on.”

Sandra Donovan's husband, Thomas, told Judge Roberts it's prompted them to put their house on the market because Bandy's family has a house down the street.

"I don't want to be there when he gets out," he said.

Judge Roberts ordered Bandy be placed in a prison offering comprehensive mental health services. State Department of Corrections records show Bandy has prior convictions for breaking and entering, second-degree home invasion and receiving stolen property.

Roberts told Bandy he will have much of his life left when he is released from prison, and it's up to him to change.

“This doesn’t have to be your life in the future, Mr. Bandy, but no one can turn it around except you,” Roberts said. “Do you understand?”

Bandy replied, “Yes, your honor.”

Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at (734) 623-2527 and e-mail at leehiggins@annarbor.com.