Overview
- A federal judge in California sentenced Zimnako Salah, 46, after a March jury verdict that included a hate-crime finding tied to a Roseville church incident.
- Evidence showed he visited four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado in 2023, planting backpacks at two and being stopped by security at two others.
- The backpacks did not contain explosives, but agents seized IED component parts from his storage unit, including items an FBI expert identified as bomb materials.
- Trial records detailed his consumption of extremist propaganda and a video in which he declared, “America. We are going to destroy it.”
- The FBI led the investigation with several local agencies, and DOJ Civil Rights Division prosecutors joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in securing the conviction and sentence.