Sonia Tabizada, Threatening to Bomb Catholic Prep School, California 2023

A 36-year-old San Jacinto, California woman was sentenced to 15 months and 13 days in prison for intentionally obstructing persons in the enjoyment of their free exercise of religious beliefs by threatening to bomb the Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, D.C.

According to the plea agreement, Sonia Tabizada learned of the school’s decision to publish same-sex wedding announcements in its alumni magazine in May 2019 and made multiple calls threatening violence in response. On May 15, 2019, Tabizada left a voice message stating that she was going to burn and bomb the church, and also threatened to kill school officials and students. Several minutes later, Tabizada left a second voice mail stating that she was going to blow up the school and warned that she would commit ‘terrorism.’

No school and no child should be subjected to death threats, because of their religious beliefs, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute violent threats motivated by bias.

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, said Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips.

The FBI will continue to prioritize threats of violence and civil rights violations to ensure every citizen and community is free to exercise all of their protected liberties without fear and threats of violence, said Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono.

Tabizada was also sentenced to two years of supervised release with special conditions, including the requirement that if she wants to leave the country, she must contact the court and request a modification of the special conditions. The FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kendra Briggs of the District of Columbia’s Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section and Trial Attorney Michael J. Songer of the Civil Rights Division prosecuted the case.

In related news, school officials announced that Visitation Prep, the oldest Catholic school for girls in the country, would begin publishing same-sex wedding announcements in its alumni magazine to advance its teaching that ‘we are all children of God … worthy of respect and love’. The school’s decision sparked the threats from Tabizada.

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