Current:Home > MarketsMan gets 7½ years for 2022 firebombing of Wisconsin anti-abortion office -MarketLink
Man gets 7½ years for 2022 firebombing of Wisconsin anti-abortion office
View
Date:2025-04-18 09:44:26
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man was sentenced Wednesday to 7½ years in prison after pleading guilty to firebombing the office of an anti-abortion group two years ago.
Hridindu Roychowdhury, 29, of Madison, also will serve three years on supervised release under the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge William Conley and was ordered to pay nearly $32,000 in restitution.
Roychowdhury admitted to throwing two Molotov cocktails through the window of the Madison office of Wisconsin Family Action on May 8, 2022, less than a week after the leak of a draft opinion suggesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s intention to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
One of the firebombs failed to ignite, and the other set a bookcase on fire. Roychowdhury also acknowledged spray-painting the message “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” on the outside of the building. No one was in the office at the time.
Conley said Roychowdhury “engaged in a deliberate act of terrorism toward a group advocating a different view” from his own and had a “deep hate and anger that in his mind justified firebombing a building.”
A telephone message seeking comment was left early Wednesday evening with Roychowdhury’s federal public defender.
Investigators connected Roychowdhury to the firebombing after police assigned to the state Capitol in Madison reviewed surveillance video of a protest against police brutality. It showed several people spray-painting graffiti on Capitol grounds that resembled the message left on the Wisconsin Family Action office. The images also showed two people leaving the area in a pickup that investigators tracked to Roychowdhury’s home in Madison.
Police began following Roychowdhury, and in March they extracted his DNA from a half-eaten burrito he threw away at a parking lot. That matched a sample taken at the scene of the firebombing.
Police arrested Roychowdhury on March 28, 1993, at a Boston airport where he had booked a one-way ticket to Guatemala City, federal prosecutors have said.
Roychowdhury signed a plea deal with prosecutors agreeing to a federal charge of damaging property with explosives.
veryGood! (529)
Related
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- Frank Reich lasted 11 games as Panthers coach. It's not even close to shortest NFL tenure
- Germany is having a budget crisis. With the economy struggling, it’s not the best time
- Tensions are bubbling up at thirsty Arizona alfalfa farms as foreign firms exploit unregulated water
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- CEO, former TCU football player and his 2 children killed while traveling for Thanksgiving
- Relatives and a friend of Israelis kidnapped and killed by Hamas visit Australia’s Parliament House
- Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year — thanks to deals and hype
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year — thanks to deals and hype
Ranking
- 'Kraven the Hunter' spoilers! Let's dig into that twisty ending, supervillain reveal
- Women falls to death down a well shaft hidden below rotting floorboards in a South Carolina home
- Tribes do their part to keep air clean. Now, they want to make sure pollution from afar doesn't put that at risk.
- One Tree Hill’s Bethany Joy Lenz Reveals Where She Found “Safety” Amid Exit From Cult Life
- Sarah J. Maas books explained: How to read 'ACOTAR,' 'Throne of Glass' in order.
- “Carbon Cowboys” Chasing Emissions Offsets in the Amazon Keep Forest-Dwelling Communities in the Dark
- Man who wounded 14 in Pennsylvania elementary school with machete dies in prison 22 years later
- NHL's first-quarter winners and losers include Rangers, Connor Bedard and Wild
Recommendation
Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
Ohio State slips out of top five in the latest NCAA Re-Rank 1-133
Tornadoes forecast in the Black Sea region as storm reportedly impacts Russian military operations
More than 303,000 Honda Accords, HR-V recalled over missing seat belt piece
Opinion: Gianni Infantino, FIFA sell souls and 2034 World Cup for Saudi Arabia's billions
How should you get rid of earwax? Experts say let your ears take care of it.
Nationwide curfew declared in Sierra Leone after attack on army barracks in capital city
LeBron James sets all-time minutes played record in worst loss of his 21-year career