HOUSTON – A man who threatened to blow up a synagogue was sentenced Monday to two years and nine months behind bars.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt sentenced Dante Phearse, 33, to prison for calling in a bomb threat to Congregation Beth Israel, a synagogue in Houston.
Phearse was also ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution.
On April 28, 2014, Phearse plead guilty to the civil rights violation of threatening to bomb a synagogue and to making a telephone bomb threat.
As part of his plea, officials said Phearse admitted that on April 30, 2013, he willfully obstructed members of Congregation Beth Israel from enjoying the free exercise of their religious beliefs by threatening the use of force with an explosive device.
Phearse also admitted to using an instrument of interstate commerce to communicate a threat to kill and injure people and to destroy a building by means of an explosive device, authorities said.
As a result of Phearse’s threats, the school at Congregation Beth Israel was closed for a day and extra security was hired to guard the synagogue and the school, thus obstructing the synagogues’ members in the enjoyment of the free exercise of their religious beliefs.