A Gainesville man has been sentenced to serve 25 years in prison for threatening a local imam and kidnapping a child in August of last year.
Marquis Bonds, 25, received the sentence for kidnapping and other charges this week, Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Lee Darragh wrote in an email.
Gainesville Police last fall said the series of events on August 22 began on Fair Street when Bonds threatened the imam of the local mosque.
Authorities said Bonds then went to the Friendly Food Mart on Athens Street and took a van with a baby in it.
When officers found Bonds, he was standing outside the van on the side of road, holding the child. He released the child without incident, police earlier said.
Bonds was also sentenced to 20 years to serve on aggravated assault, 10 years on each of two counts of theft by taking, 5 years on interference with government property and 12 months each on misdemeanor marijuana and aggressive driving charges, according to Darragh. Bonds will serve the rest of his life on probation for the kidnapping charges.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
Bonds was convicted Friday morning. Hall County Superior Court Judge Jason Deal presided over the trial and sentencing.
