On March 26, 2018, Preston Q. Howard, 49, of Wright City, Missouri, entered a guilty plea before Chief United States District Court Judge J. Randal Hall, to three charges of Obstruction of Persons in the Free Exercise of Religious Beliefs. He faces up to 20 years in prison without the possibility of parole for each offense, and is subject to a sentencing enhancement because he chose his victims based on their religion, classifying his actions as hate crimes.<\/p>\n
According to information presented at the March 26 hearing, between June 22, 2017 and August 8, 2017, Howard made numerous telephone calls to the Islamic Society of Augusta, during which he threatened to \u201ckill,\u201d \u201cbomb,\u201d \u201cshoot,\u201d \u201cbehead,\u201d \u201cslaughter,\u201d \u201cexecute,\u201d \u201clight on fire,\u201d and \u201cmurder\u201d members of the mosque, to \u201chunt down\u201d and \u201czone in\u201d on Muslims, and to \u201cblow up the mosque.\u201d At the hearing, Howard admitted committing these acts and obstructing or attempting to obstruct the mosque members\u2019 free exercise of their religious beliefs. Howard remains in federal custody pending his sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll people, regardless of where they worship or which religion they belong to, are entitled to live free from the threat of violence and discrimination,\u201d said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. \u201cHoward\u2019s threatening and hateful calls were criminal and unlawful. The Department of Justice will continue to hold anyone who commits hate crimes accountable under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who perpetrate hate crimes by making abhorrent and venomous threats against members of our community in violation of federal law will be held accountable! We continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify and bring to justice those who terrorize our citizens,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Bobby L. Christine for the Southern District of Georgia<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only did this defendant violate the mosque members\u2019 right to exercise their religious beliefs, his threats caused them to live in fear for their safety and lives,\u201d said David J. LeValley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. \u201cAt the FBI, we swear an oath to protect our citizens and uphold the Constitution, and violating the right to practice one\u2019s faith, will never be tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On March 26, 2018, Preston Q. Howard, 49, of Wright City, Missouri, entered a guilty plea before Chief United States District Court Judge J. Randal Hall, to three charges of Obstruction of Persons in the Free Exercise of Religious Beliefs. He faces up to 20 years in prison without the possibility of parole for each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5409,"featured_media":95057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n