Hoax bomber gets 6 years after fake bomb at California church

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — An Arizona man convicted of placing a hoax bomb at a Roseville, California, church told a judge Friday he shouldn’t be incarcerated.

Zimnako Salah, of Phoenix, emphasized that he merely forgot his backpack in the church bathroom. He committed no act of terrorism.

“With respect, judge, I should not be in jail even for one day,” Salah said. “Because I did not do anything wrong.

“I should not be in jail,” he added. “I should have been at home a long time ago.”

A jury found otherwise in April, convicting Salah of false information and hoax, and obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs.

Jurors also found that Salah targeted the church because of its congregants’ religion, which made his act a hate crime, prosecutors said.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins sentenced Salah to six years in prison — the maximum penalty — and a $10,000 fine.

“The seriousness of this offense must be taken into account,” the Joe Biden appointee said shortly before sentencing, noting Salah showed no remorse. “You failed to take responsibility for your actions.”

According to prosecutors, Salah visited four churches between September and November 2023 in California, Arizona and Colorado.

He planted backpacks at two churches, leading parishioners to think they were bombs. Security confronted Salah at the other two churches before he left the backpacks.

Additionally, prosecutors accused Salah of building a bomb that could fit inside a backpack. FBI bomb technicians found items in his Colorado storage unit, which they told jurors were components of an improvised explosive device.

Salah’s social media revealed that he’d viewed extremist propaganda.

Records showed he searched for videos of “infidels dying.” He’d also seen videos depicting members of the terrorist group ISIS killing people, prosecutors said.

Representing Salah, attorney Michael Heumann asked Coggins to consider a lesser sentence. He noted his client had testified at his trial, which wasn’t required.

“He disavowed violence in service of his religion,” Heumann said. “He disavowed terrorist organizations.”

A bomb found in his storage unit was disassembled. Additionally, agents found nothing in his home that indicated he’d built bombs, the defense attorney said.

“His behavior was not escalating,” Heumann added. “It suggests it was static.”

Christopher Perras, special litigation counsel with the U.S. Department of Justice, pushed back on those arguments. He said that if the harm of a hoax hinges on the fear it creates, the judge should consider one witness who had tears in her eyes as she testified. That witness thought the backpack held a bomb and that she would die.

The hoax bomb also led church security to take extraordinary measures, he added.

Prosecutors said Salah approached the hoax from a tactical standpoint.

He scoped out the church beforehand, knowing its entrances and exits. Then, once he placed the false bomb, Salah traveled to his Colorado storage unit, where technicians later found a propane tank with explosive gas and shrapnel, Perras said.

The prosecutor dismissed a defense request that Salah receive a sentence of time served and supervised release. He noted that Salah drove across the country and targeted spots, contrasting that degree of planning with someone who makes a threat over the phone in a fit of rage.

“He has lied,” Perras said. “He has attempted to obstruct justice."

Later, he also added: “We’re not talking about a first-time drug user here."

Before issuing her sentence, Coggins explained why she disagreed with some of the defense’s arguments.

Salah argued his charges had overlapping accusations, but the judge found that each had its own specific set of facts. She also found that the interruption the church experienced was substantial, as security set up a perimeter and children had to be relocated.

The judge also found that Salah could pay a potential fine, as he owns a home, has been employed in the past and has numerous assets. She said Salah picked the Roseville church because its adherents were Christian.