US man gets 5 years for trying to burn Jewish assisted living facility

The Ruth's House assisted-living facility in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. (Screen capture: Google Street View)
The Ruth's House assisted-living facility in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. (Screen capture: Google Street View)

A man convicted of using a homemade bomb to try to burn a Jewish-sponsored assisted living home in Massachusetts is sentenced to five years in prison.

In addition to his prison term, John Rathbun, 37, of East Longmeadow, is sentenced in US District Court in Springfield to three years of probation and ordered to stay away from the home.

Rathbun assembled, placed and lit a 5-gallon (19-liter) canister of gasoline — with pages from a Christian pamphlet as the wick — outside an entrance of a building at Jewish Geriatric Services Lifecare Inc. in Longmeadow on April 2, 2020, according to prosecutors.

The facility is a Jewish-sponsored assisted living center for seniors of all faiths, according to its website. No one was injured.

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