A quiet Chicago neighborhood became the scene of a chilling hate crime when a woman hurled a firebomb onto her neighbors’ porch — an act prosecutors say was meant to terrorize them into leaving their home.

Ana M. Hernandez, 70, was sentenced Thursday to nearly three years in federal prison after admitting she targeted her neighbors because they are of Venezuelan origin. The incident unfolded on March 16, 2024, at a residential building in Chicago, according to federal authorities.

Prosecutors said Hernandez threw a glass bottle filled with oil and a washcloth — a device commonly known as a Molotov cocktail — onto the back porch of the home. The incendiary device ignited a fire on the wooden structure. No one was injured, but the message was unmistakable.

In a plea agreement, Hernandez acknowledged that the attack was motivated by bias and that she wanted the residents to leave the building because of their national origin.

The intimidation did not stop with the flames. Later that same day, Hernandez placed a handwritten note on the vehicle of the victims’ landlord, who also lived in the building. The note warned, “We do not want you in the neighborhood. Go back to your country. You can go the easy way or the hard way.”

Federal prosecutors said the explicit language, combined with the firebombing, made clear the intent to threaten and terrorize.

Hernandez pleaded guilty earlier this year to unlawfully interfering with housing rights, a federal hate crime offense. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins sentenced her to two years and nine months in federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, which said the attack was investigated as a hate crime because Hernandez admitted her motive and used explicit threats to intimidate the victims.

Federal officials said the sentence reflects the seriousness of using violence and fear to target people based on who they are — and serves as a warning that hate-fueled crimes, even those that cause no physical injuries, carry severe consequences.