A Florida man is facing federal charges after police tracked down his phone calls threatening to bomb a mosque.
Dustin Allen Hughes allegedly called Jamaet Ul Muttaqueen Mosque in Pembroke Pines four times in a week. His first voicemail on May 5 and said he had planted a bomb at the mosque and would detonate it.
Authorities said no bomb was found. When police responded to the mosque's alert call, the caller ID listed on the voicemails was under Hughes' name, leading them straight to their suspect. He was arrested by the FBI at his home in Cutler Bay on May 15, the first day of holy month of Ramadan.
Hughes' voicemails were laced with profanity and said things such as, "I planted a bomb in your temple ... you guys are all gonna be up in flames after I'm done with you!"
"You guys wanna come here and cause mayhem to America, well I'm gonna cause mayhem to your religion 'cause your religion is nothing but lies. Lies, lies, lies from the devil! Where's Allah now?" Hughes said in one message.
Prosecutors say Hughes confessed after his arrest to leaving the messages because he wanted to upset and frighten Muslims, clapping and expressing happiness when FBI told him people were scared.
Miami federal prosecutors said in a news release Wednesday that the 26-year-old faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of making the telephone threats. His next detention hearing before a U.S. magistrate judge is scheduled for May 22.
"It is shameful and alarming to continue witnessing an increment in hate crimes against Florida Muslims and their places of worship and education," a spokesman for the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a press release.
