A Marietta man's 2014 bomb "hoax," designed to "prey on stereotypical fears" about Muslims, has earned him two years in prison, the U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday.
Michael Sibley was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison after leaving a backpack containing two pipe bombs in Roswell's Vickery Creek Park in November 2014, according to the office of the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
“He compounded the crime by preying on stereotypical fears and prejudices by making it appear the bombs were planted by a Muslim," U.S. Attorney John Horn said in a news release. On the bag containing the bombs, Sibley wrote a traditionally Muslim name, the U.S. attorney’s office said in the release.
Sibley confessed to the incident and pleaded guilty in 2015 to a charge of conveying false and misleading information about a crime, according to a previous Atlanta Journal-Constitution report.
In November 2014, a mother and daughter walking in Vickery Creek Park spotted the backpack, called police and the Cobb County police bomb squad was called to the scene.
Inside the backpack, investigators found two inoperable pipe bombs and approximately 400 nails and screws, according to a previous AJC report. The backpack also contained an Atlanta Falcons schedule, a MARTA schedule, and two books, "The Rape of Kuwait" and "The Holy Qur'an," to "convey threats" to other locations, officials said, according to a previous AJC report.
In an interview with investigators, Sibley said he placed the bag with these devices, the books and other items in the park to bring attention to borders that he believes allow people to enter the United States illegally, according to a previous AJC report.
Sibley said he wanted people to realize if it could happen in Roswell, it could happen anywhere, Horn's office said, according to a previous report.
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