A Birmingham woman has been sentenced to federal prison for placing an incendiary device that exploded at a Lakeview apartment building where her ex-boyfriend’s new romantic interest lived.

U.S. District Court Judge Anna M. Manasco sentenced Kimberly Lanetta Blackmon, 39, to 135 months – more than 11 years, according to a Wednesday announcement by Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona and ATF Nashville Field Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Stankiewicz.

In July 2024, Blackmon pleaded guilty to arson.

According to court documents, Blackmon in the early morning hours of Oct. 18, 202, drove to Lakeview Green apartments in the 2900 block of Fourth Avenue South and forced her way into the lobby.

Blackmon then took the elevator to an apartment on the fourth floor that she believed belonged to someone who was romantically linked to her ex-boyfriend.

She then placed an improvised incendiary device – a plastic bag and undisclosed object – against the door and fled down a nearby stairwell. Test later showed the device included gasoline.

Moments later, the device exploded—creating a fireball that caused moderate damage to the door and the interior threshold of the apartment.

No one was in the apartment unit at the time.

Although the interior sprinkler system extinguished the fire before it could spread or cause injury, the device set by Blackmon caused nearly $470,000 in property damage.

Blackmon several hours later returned to the building, saying she was going to visit her cousin. She gave an apartment manager the address of a unit that didn’t exist and he became suspicious.

When she left, he took a photo of her Nissan Sentra, which ultimately led to her arrest.

ATF investigated the case along with the Birmingham Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Lee Gilmer prosecuted.