A woman who threatened to bomb a Catholic school and kill students and staff for her decision to publish same-sex marriage announcements was sentenced on Friday to more than a year in prison that she has already served.
The threats were made to the Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, DC in 2019, after the girls’ school said it would start running the ads in its alumni magazine, prosecutors said.
Sonia Tabizada, 36, of San Jacinto, California, pleaded guilty in January to obstructing religious exercise by threats by force, making threats in January.
She made the threats in voice messages, including one in which she said she would “blow up the school and call it God’s mission,” according to court documents.
On Friday, she was sentenced to 15 months and 13 days in prison, the District of Columbia prosecutor said in a statement.
Tabizada’s lawyer, Carmen Hernandez, largely refused to comment on Friday night, but said Tabizada “regrets”.
The sentence also includes two years of supervised release, according to court documents.
Visitation Prep is the oldest Catholic school for girls in the United States. Tabizada has no connection with the school, he said.
In a letter about same-sex ads, a copy of which was published in The Washington Post, Sister Mary Berchmans Hannan wrote that the Catholic Church’s teachings on same-sex marriage are clear.
“But it is equally clear in her teaching that we are all children of God, that each of us has dignity and is worthy of respect and love,” she wrote, adding that the school strives to welcome all members of the community.
