Lebanese Immigrant Given 23 Year Sentence For Planting Fake Bomb in Chicago

Given the fake device by undercover agents

A Lebanese immigrant was sentenced Thursday to 23 years in prison for placing a backpack he believed contained a bomb near Wrigley Field in Chicago. In imposing the sentence on the man, Sami Samir Hassoun, 25, in federal court in Chicago, the judge invoked the specter of the Boston Marathon, saying had Mr. Hassoun's bomb been real, it would have made Boston look like a minor episode. Minutes earlier, Mr. Hassoun, a onetime Chicago baker and candy-store worker, pleaded guilty to two counts. His defense depicted him as a gullible youth sucked into a 2010 terrorism sting during an alcohol-addled stretch of his life. But prosecutors said he showed enthusiasm and initiative in deciding to drop the fake bomb given to him by undercover agents.

H/T Adam Simpson