Tennessee man sentenced to 14 years in mosque firebomb
— AP: Nashville, Tennessee: “A federal judge is sentencing a man who firebombed a mosque in central Tennessee to 14 years in prison. Senior U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Echols sentenced 23-year-old Michael Corey Golden on Monday. Golden and two other men pleaded guilty earlier to burning the Islamic Center of Columbia last year. The city is about 40 miles south of Nashville.”
— ” Court documents showed the men painted swastikas and racial slogans on the center, then threw two homemade Molotov cocktails into it. Prosecutors say Eric Ian Baker and Jonathan Edward Stone will be sentenced in December.”
— September 22, 2009: Man enters plea in Islamic Center arson
— November 3, 2008: White Supremacists Plead Guilty to Firebombing Tennessee Mosque
— ADL: “On November 3, 2008, Jonathan Edward Stone, 19, and Michael Corey Golden, 23, pleaded guilty to civil rights charges in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee, for firebombing the Islamic Center of Columbia in February.”
— “Stone and Golden each pleaded guilty to one count of use of fire to damage religious property and one count of destruction of religious property.”
— “During the plea hearing Golden and Stone admitted to constructing Molotov cocktails, breaking into the Islamic Center, igniting the devices and using them to destroy the mosque. The men further admitted that they had committed these actions due to the religious component of the building.”
— “A third defendant charged in the case, Eric Ian Baker, 32, has not yet entered a plea.”
— “Authorities claim the three men went to the Islamic Center, where Baker allegedly spray-painted swastikas and the words “White Power” on the walls, while Golden and Stone broke in and ignited the Molotov cocktails. ‘”
— Summer 2008: ADL – “Three men, all believed to be members of the white supremacist group Aryan Alliance, face federal charges in connection with the pre-dawn arson of a Tennessee mosque.”
— “At least two of the three men are followers of Christian Identity, a virulently racist and anti-Semitic perversion of Christianity that’s often espoused by hate groups. Stone told officials that his role in the fire got him ‘two stripes’ from Baker, his Christian Identity sponsor. He said Christian Identity members earn stripes ‘for committing acts of violence against enemies,’ according to the affidavit.”
