AhlulBayt News Agency - A Florida man was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for threatening to bomb two mosques and shoot their worshippers, shortly after November's deadly attacks in Paris, US Justice Department said on Monday.
Martin Alan Schnitzler, 43, of Seminole, pleaded guilty in February to one count of obstructing persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs.
Schnitzler faced up to 20 years in prison on the federal charges, but US District Court Judge James D. Whittemore sentenced him to one year plus one day.
"This prosecution sends a clear message to anyone who contemplates the use of threats or intimidation to interfere with the right of individuals to worship as they choose, without fear," US Attorney A. Lee Bentley III of the Middle District of Florida said in a statement Monday.
Schnitzler admitted to having left the Islamic Society of St. Petersburg and the Islamic Society of Pinellas County profanity-laced voice messages in which he threatened congregants on 13 November 2015.
Schnitzler admitted that his threats were prompted by the Paris attacks, which had occurred the same day and killed 130 people.
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