Warwick man jailed in xenophobic extortion caper

1:16PM ON 02/19/2008
BY Ari Savitzky

A Warwick man who impersonated a federal agent and falsely claimed that he could link a gas station owner to Islamic terrorists was sentenced Friday to serve eight months in prison followed by two months in home confinement.

While it’s good that justice is being served, this brazen attempt at extorting money out of a middle-eastern gas station owner seems pretty messed up, and the sentence, given the years we dole out for drug-related crimes, seems kind of light. I guess it’s because he plead out:

In September, Tabora pleaded guilty to extortion and impersonating a federal officer to obtain money. Had the case gone to trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker said the government would have proven that Tabora posed as a Homeland Security officer and claimed that he could link the gas station owner to al-Qaida, the Islamic terrorist organization.

Tabora, who identified himself as Agent Carl Johnson, demanded $25,000 and threatened to go after the station owner’s family and send him to prison.

In response, the gas station owner, who is Middle Eastern, turned to the Warwick Police Department. The police learned that Tabora’s wife worked at the gas station.

He couldn’t have been referring to this Carl Johnson, could he?

What was this guy thinking? Oh wait, I bet it was: maybe I can use the anti-Arab political climate to extort 25k out of my wife’s boss by posing as a federal agent named after a character from Grant Theft Auto.

Tags: Sadness