(JTA) — A man who plotted to blow up a synagogue in Colorado has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes and explosives charges.
Richard Holzer, a self-described “skinhead” and former Ku Klux Klan member who used Facebook to promote white supremacy, was arrested last November for plotting to blow up a 100-year-old synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado. The synagogue, Temple Emanuel, has 35 member families.
Holzer was arrested after plotting with a man he thought was a co-conspirator but who was actually an FBI agent. Holzer had previously attempted to poison the synagogue’s water supply with arsenic.
“This is the most important work that we can do – protecting our communities by stopping an attack before it occurred,” said Colorado US Attorney Jason Dunn in a statement.
A Department of Homeland Security report released this month concluded that white supremacists pose the biggest domestic terror threat in the United States.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
