From U.S. v. Salah, decided Tuesday by Judge Dena Coggins (E.D. Cal.):
Defendant is charged in the superseding indictment with the following two counts: (1) violating 18 U.S.C. § 1038(a)(1)(A) - False Information and Hoax, by "knowingly affix[ing] a backpack to a toilet in the restroom of a church in Roseville, California with the intent to convey the false and misleading information that the backpack contained a bomb"; and (2) violating 18 U.S.C. 247(a)(2) – Obstruction of Persons in the Free Exercise of Religious Beliefs, by "knowingly affix[ing] a backpack to a toilet in the restroom of that church in order to convey a bomb threat and thereby obstruct the church's congregants in the enjoyment of their free exercise of religious beliefs."
Defendant is charged with the following conduct:
On November 12, 2023, the Defendant entered a Christian church in Roseville, California, during the 9:00 am Sunday service. The Defendant, wearing a black backpack, walked to the men's bathroom where he tied the backpack to a toilet and then left the church. When security staff spotted the backpack, they believed it to be a bomb and called 911. The backpack was eventually removed and opened and found to contain a pillow. Church security camera footage shows that the Defendant had entered and left the church and visited this same bathroom an additional time—without the backpack—earlier that same morning. Street camera footage further shows that the Defendant had driven to the church the morning before the incident, parked in the parking lot for roughly 17 minutes, never leaving his car, and then left.
The Government contends that Defendant committed the charged offenses as a part of a broader plan and attempt to bomb and terrorize Christian churches. [Details omitted. -EV]
Search warrant returns from the Defendant's YouTube account revealed that the Defendant had searched "infidels dying" and had watched YouTube videos about the Boston Marathon bombing, which was carried out with IEDs concealed in backpacks. The family who purchased the Defendant's Glendale, Arizona, home told investigators that the Defendant had made statements expressing animus against Christianity and the United States….
The long decision (over 7500 words) dealt with the defendant's requests to block the government from introducing various kinds of evidence; here's an excerpt focused on the evidence related to Salah's ideology:
