A California woman who left voice messages threatening to bomb a Catholic high school in Washington, D.C., for advertising same-sex marriage pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime, the U.S. Justice Department said according to reports Wednesday.
Sonia Tabizada, 36, pleaded guilty to deliberately "obstructing persons in the enjoyment of their free exercise of religious beliefs" in connection to her bomb threats to Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, DC.
According to Georgetown Visitation's official website, the preparatory school currently has 500 high-school-age students. Georgetown Visitation is the oldest Catholic school for girls in the U.S.
Two days after Georgetown announced it would publish same-sex wedding announcements a school official and a nun received threats about the bombing, burning and the killing of nuns.
Tabizada made several threatening phone calls to the school, saying she would bomb and burn the church, kill the students and school officials and commit "terror," court documents showed.
In May last year, the exclusive private girls' school announced it would start to print same-sex marriage announcements in its alumni magazine in a bid to promote the teaching that "we're all children of God...worthy of respect and love."
"We reached this decision as a school and monastery leadership after much prayerful consideration and thoughtful dialogue," NBC quoted the school as saying in a letter to the community.
Tabizada faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, three years of supervised parole and a fine of up to $250,000 at court proceedings set for March 23.
