A Colorado man who prosecutors say is a neo-Nazi who identifies himself has been sentenced to more than 19 years for a plan to blow up one of the state’s oldest synagogues, officials said.
Richard Holzer, 28, was sentenced to 235 months, or about 19 and a half years, in prison and 15 years of freedom overseen by the plan to reach the Temple Emanuel Synagogue in Pueblo, the Colorado District Attorney’s Office said.
Holzer in October pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime and an explosive count. While planning to blow up the synagogue, built in 1900, he was unknowingly in contact with the FBI.
Holzer confessed after his arrest and said that although he did not plan to kill anyone, he would have continued the attack even if people were inside, according to court documents.
The dynamite and bombs were supplied by the FBI and could not have exploded, officials said. Holzer planned to detonate what he thought was explosive in the early morning hours of November 2, 2019.
Jason Dunn, Colorado District Attorney General, said the sentence was “another step forward in our fight against extremism”.
Officials said Holzer’s actions met the federal definition of domestic terrorism. “Mr. Holzer chose a place of worship for violence and destruction to remove people of Jewish faith from our community,” said Michael Schneider, special FBI agent in charge of the Denver office, in a statement.
Public defenders representing Holzer declined to comment on Friday night. Under a plea bargain, prosecutors agreed to recommend no more than 20 years in prison, the documents say.
