Iowa man gets home confinement, probation for threatening to shoot up Roxbury mosque

A Fitchburg native and former Army ranger was sentenced to six months' home confinement and 3 1/2 years of probation for posting threatening messages on the Facebook page of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.

Gerald Wayne Ledford, 57, who now lives in Clinton, Iowa, pleaded guilty in August to one count of transmitting in interstate commerce a communication containing a threat to injure after he posted two messages last October on the society Facebook page, one general death threats and rantings against Muslims, the other of which showed a picture of a man with a rifle and a note indicating it was for mosque members specifically.

In a sentencing memorandum, his lawyers said Ledford has been on disability since 1997, following an industrial accident in which he broke his hips, legs and ankles, and that he takes prescription drugs for mental-health conditions. His lawyers added they doubt Ledford would violate probation:

Mr. Ledford acknowledges that this experience has been an eye-opener for him.