A Fairfax County man was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison and three more under supervised release for, among other things, "communicating threats against the writers of the South Park television show."
That is according to the Justice Department, which had made the case to the court that Zachary Adam Chesser, 21, had "attempted to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and used the Internet to incite violence."
He had also been convicted of attempting to provide support to a designated foreign terrorist.
Chesser had pled guilty to the charges Oct. 20, and according to a copy of the plea agreement, admitted to taking "repeated steps in April 2010 to encourage violent jihadists to attack the writers of [comedy Central's] South Park for an episode that included Muhammad in a bear suit, including highlighting their residence and urging online readers to 'pay them a visit,'" according to Justice. He also posted speeches on the Web by a designated "global terrorist" about the Islamic justification for killing those who defame Muhammad.
He also posted personal contact info for the "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" group of Facebook.
Chesser was also found guilty of trying to "desensitize law enforcement" by planting "suspicious-looking but innocent packages" in public places.
