PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Phoenix man learned his punishment on Friday for targeting Christian churches with fake bombs in what was later determined to be hate crimes.

The Department of Justice said 46-year-old Zimnako Salah was sentenced to six years in prison.

In September 2023, he left a backpack in the sanctuary of a Scottsdale church that looked like a bomb. However, a pillow and other clothing were found inside.

In November of that year, he strapped a backpack around a toilet at a Christian church in Roseville, California, a suburb of Sacramento. A church volunteer unzipped the backpack and found a pillow.

He tried to put suspicious backpacks in another California church and another in Colorado but security confronted him before he could do anything.

Investigators said Salah ha

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