A California woman has pleaded guilty
to threatening to kill nuns at a private Catholic all-girls high
school in the District of Columbia after the school announced it
would include information about same-sex weddings in its alumnae
magazine.
Sonia Tabizada made two threatening
phone calls against Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School two days
after it announced the change in May. 2019.
“Hey motherfuckers, I’m going to
burn that fucking church, I’m going to bomb it, bitch!” Tabizada
allegedly said in a voice mail. “I’m going to fucking kill you
guys. I’m going to send my fucking soldiers, motherfuckers. Remove
the fucking gay motherfuckers from your magazine, or I’m going to
fucking kill your kids. That’s a promise.”
“What kind of pervert priests do you
guys have running the show?” she said in a second voice mail.
“Nobody cares for those girls? You’re crushing the innocent,
motherfucking asshole. I’m gonna fucking blow up the school and
call it a mission from God. You guys are going to get terrorism
within your fucking school, motherfucker. And you’re going to be
guilty. And I warned you!”
Federal prosecutors charged Tabizada,
36, with making a bomb threat against Georgetown Visitation
Preparatory School, which is owned and operated by the Roman Catholic
Church.
The Justice Department on Monday
announced that Tabizada had pleaded guilty in federal court to
“intentionally obstructing persons in the enjoyment of their free
exercise of religious beliefs by threatening to bomb” the school.
In its announcement, the school said
that it was advancing its teaching that “we are all children of God
… worthy of respect and love.”
“The defendant made violent threats
against high school students, religious leaders, and school officials
based solely on her disagreement with a private school’s
application of religious doctrine,” Eric Drieband, assistant
attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said
in a statement. “Tolerance and religious freedom are
cornerstone values in our society and the Department of Justice will
continue to vigorously prosecute violent threats motivated by bias.”
The agency said that Tabizada will be
sentenced on March 23 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in
prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to
$250,000.