Man gets hefty sentence for falsely linking Arab-American man to Sept. 11 attacks
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Posted 9:15AM on Thursday, January 3, 2002
NEW YORK - A federal judge handed down a longer-than-normal sentence for a man who falsely connected his fiancee's Arab-American boss to the Sept. 11 attacks. <br>
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Judge Nina Gershon of U.S. District Court sentenced Jack Barresi, 38, to 21 months in prison for falsely telling the FBI that his fiancee's boss was a potential suspect. <br>
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Prosecutors requested Barresi be given more than the normal six-month sentence for such violations because of the "heightened anti-Arab sentiment." <br>
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Barresi told federal authorities right after the attacks that on Sept. 7, his fiancee's boss told him that he could "not wait for you Americans to blow up and die," authorities said. <br>
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Barresi later admitted that he made the claim up. He said it was because his fiancee told him her boss was mistreating female employees, authorities said. <br>
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