Woman Who Threatened To Bomb DC Private School Sentenced

WASHINGTON, DC — A California woman was sentenced Friday in federal court for threatening to bomb a private school in Washington, D.C., in order to prevent people from the free exercise of their religious beliefs, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release.

Sonia Tabizada, 36, of San Jacinto, pleaded guilting in January for making threatening phone calls to Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School on May 15, 2019. The school, which is the oldest Catholic girls school in the country, had earlier that same month started publishing same-sex wedding announcements in its alumni magazine. The aim was to advance the teaching of "we are all children of God ... worthy of respect and love," according to court documents.

When Tabizada learned of this, she made multiple calls to the school, threatening violence and saying that she would commit "terrorism" against the school, according to her plea agreement.

“No school and no child should be subjected to death threats, because of their religious beliefs ” said Pamela S. Karlan, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, “and the Department of Justice will continue to vigorously prosecute violent threats motivated by bias.”

On Thursday, Tabizada was sentenced to time served of 15 months and 13 days. She was also sentenced to two years of supervised release with special condition.

“The citizens of the District of Columbia and our country are entitled to freely exercise their religious beliefs and to be free from threats of violence based on bias — be it against religion, race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, and other protected characteristics. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is committed to protecting the civil rights of all our citizens and will do so by vigorously enforcing both federal and local hate crime laws” said Channing D. Phillips, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, in a release.

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Guilty Plea In Bomb Threat Against DC Private School: Report