Self-Described ‘Skinhead’ Who Schemed To Blow Up Colorado Synagogue Sentenced To Nearly 20 Years In Prison

COLORADO (JTA) — A self-described “skinhead” who plotted to blow up a Colorado synagogue in 2019 was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison.

Richard Holzer, 28, who was arrested in an FBI operation, had planned to attack Temple Emanuel, a 100-year-old synagogue in Pueblo with 35 member families. The man Holzer thought was his partner in crime was actually an FBI agent.

Holzer had also planned to poison the synagogue’s water supply with arsenic.

According to Reuters, he pleaded guilty last year to one count each of trying to obstruct religious services by force and attempting to destroy a building used in interstate commerce.

At his sentencing hearing Friday, according to Reuters, Judge Raymond Moore castigated Holzer for trying “to terrorize the Jewish community.”

““It is one of the most vulgar … evil crimes that can be committed against an entire group of people,” Moore said.