Columbus man sentenced for threats to judge, Canal Winchester schools, businesses, others
A Columbus man has received a five-year federal prison sentence for threats made to a county judge and law enforcement as well as bomb threats to two area schools and businesses in 2021.
Yousif Mubarak, 28, a resident of the city's Southeast Side near Canal Winchester, was convicted in a federal jury trial in August of seven counts of making interstate threats.
U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. sentenced Mubarak on Wednesday in federal court in Columbus to five years in prison.
“Threats are more than mere words; they have significant consequences, as illustrated by the sentence imposed today,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Kenneth L. Parker said in a news release.
According to court records, Mubarak made nearly 90 threatening phone calls in September 2021 from the state of Washington, where he lived briefly, to a Franklin County Municipal Court judge who had presided over his traffic court case.
On Sept. 12 and 13, 2021, Mubarak wasted hours of law enforcement time, forced the early closure of businesses and schools and scared people, including students, federal prosecuting attorneys said in court records.
Mubarak called several Canal Winchester area businesses on Sept. 12 and threatened to blow them up, causing evacuations and early closures at Brew Dog and Home Depot.
He also called the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office more than 100 times in about 12 hours across Sept. 12 and Sept. 13.
Around 10 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2021, officers went to Mubarak's home, where he taunted them while speaking through his Ring doorbell camera.
About 20 minutes later, Mubarak called a Fairfield County 911 dispatcher and said "you can die," and that "she would get two bullets in the head."
At 7 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2021, Mubarak called in bomb threats to Canal Winchester Middle School and Pickerington North High School.
An attorney who represented Mubarak in court declined to comment when contacted by The Dispatch.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio man sentenced to 5 years for threats to judge, schools, others
