Man Faces 23 Years Prison for Setting Fake Bomb in 2010

Last Thursday, a man from Chicago was sentenced to 23 years in prison for attempting to set off what he thought was a bomb on a crowded street near Wrigley Field in 2010.

According to authorities, a man named Sami Samir Hassoun, 25, was arrested on a weekend of mid-September 2010 after placing a backpack in a trash container in an area full of bars and restaurant patrons.

Prosecutors say that a concert took place that night at nearby Wrigley Field. Hassoun was thinking that the bag contained a bomb, but it was only an motionless device given to him by undercover FBI agents.

Hassoun is a Lebanese citizen living legally in the United States that pleaded guilty in April 2012 to two charges involving trying to set off explosives. According to the prosecutors, he also admitted that he told the undercover officers that he wanted to set off bombs to weaken Chicago and that he was also willing to attack police officers.

The government said that the undercover operatives explained that the alleged bomb was packed with ball bearings to inflict maximum damage and that the blast could have destroyed half a city block.

The judge ordered Hassoun to be deported back to his hometown after he completes his 23 years in prison.

Source: edition.cnn.com