DAVENPORT, Iowa -- A Bettendorf man with a pattern of making bomb threats has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for threatening to blow up Scott Community College on Nov. 4, 2015.
America Haileselassie, 39, had previously pleaded guilty to printing out papers at the community college's Student Success Center reading "“There is a bomb at Scott Community College. It will explode at noon today.”
That threat resulted in a building evacuation and a search of the college. No explosive device was found.
According to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice, officers later learned Haileselassie had been verbally advised the week prior to the threat he was going to be suspended from school for stealing a book. Haileselassie admitted he sent the bomb threat by accessing the Internet, causing a message to be sent to a printer at SCC.
This was not the first time Hailesalassie had threatened to attack public buildings. He had previously been in prison for threatening to blow up a metro station in Washington D.C. and then was arrested again after issuing a bomb threat against the Bettendorf Police Department.
After a previous incarceration, a psychiatrist diagnosed Haileselassie with anti-social personality disorder, saying he had a "a basic disregard for the rights of other people."
Haileselassie will be required to serve one year of supervised release when he leaves jail.