By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI arrested a 27-year-old white supremacist accused of planning to bomb a Colorado synagogue as part of a “racial holy war.”
Richard Holzer was arrested Friday night after he believed he was picking up pipe bombs and dynamite from co-conspirators who turned out to be undercover federal agents.
Holzer planned to bomb the Temple Emanuel synagogue in Pueblo, Colo., the FBI alleges.
While picking up the phony bombs, Holzer was carrying a copy of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and wearing a Nazi armband, The Washington Post reports, citing FBI Special Agent John W. Smith’s court filing.
Holzer faces up to 20 years in prison after he was arraigned Monday on a charge of attempting to obstruct people from exercising their religious freedom through force and attempted use of explosives and fire.
“We thwarted an imminent threat to our community,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Dean Phillips said at a news conference.
Holzer caught the attention of the FBI earlier this year when investigators spotted anti-Semitic posts on social media. Posing as a white supremacist, an undercover agent established a relationship with Holzer, who sent pictures of himself with guns and swastikas.
Holzer is accused of telling the undercover agent he was “getting ready” for a “racial holy war.”
The FBI said Holzer confessed to the plot after his arrest.
