Federal prosecutors on Tuesday obtained an indictment from a federal Grand Jury in Knoxville on a new charge against a Signal Mountain man charged with making threats against a Muslim settlement in New York.
The case will remain in Chattanooga, however.
RoVanita Gupta, the head of the Civil Rights Division, and Bill Killian, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, announced today that the Knoxville panel returned a one-count indictment charging Robert Doggart, 63, with soliciting another person to violate federal civil rights laws by burning down a mosque in Islamberg, a hamlet in Hancock, N.Y.
Prosecutors earlier filed an information against Doggart and a plea agreement was worked out. However, Judge Curtis Collier held up on accepting it, telling attorneys to verify that there was "a true threat."
Then Federal Magistrate Susan Lee allowed Doggart to be on house arrest over the objection of prosecutors.
This is an entirely different case against Doggart, whose alleged actions and the court process have brought the attention of a national Muslim watchdog group.
According to court documents, Doggart planned an attack on Islamberg, a small settlement that is home to a large Muslim community. Doggart’s plans included burning a mosque, a school and a cafeteria in the community, and he solicited others to join in his plan through Facebook posts and in telephone conversations.
Doggart has been charged with one count of soliciting others to violate federal civil rights laws by intentionally defacing, damaging or destroying any religious property, because of the religious character of that property, or attempting to do so. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The case is being investigated by the FBI. It is being prosecuted by civil rights division trial attorney Saeed Mody and Assistant U.S. attorneys Perry H. Piper and Chris Poole of the Eastern District of Tennessee.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Click here to read the indictment.