“Patriot” Michael Sibley, 67, of Marietta, GA was arrested last month for leaving a backpack containing partially made bombs in a Roswell park last November.
Hikers found the bag and Sibley confessed to FBI agents that he planned to cause an explosion and blame the attack on Muslims.
Sibley admitted to building the bomb in his garage and storing it inside the backpack. He added a Quran and a map into the bag, which pointed to possible target locations including the Marcus Jewish Community Center, MARTA, and an Atlanta Falcons game. He also wrote the name “Mina Khodari” inside the bag because it “sounded foreign.”
Sibley calls himself a patriot and says that he acted because he felt as if “no one was paying attention to what was going on in the world,” and he wanted to remind people that an attack could happen anywhere.
A bomb squad destroyed the bag in a controlled explosion. Sibley now faces charges of attempting to damage federal property by use of explosives.
The federal complaint against Sibley says he is charged with an attempt to damage federal property with an explosive device, and presenting false information. Ironically he was not charged with any crimes for terrorism.