Dr. Robert J. Goldstein is an American conspirator who plotted with two accomplices to destroy the Islamic Education Center in

Pinellas County Pinellas County (, ) is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107. The county is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg– Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

with homemade C4. A police search of the Goldstein home in August 2002 found a list of 50 Islamic worship centers on Florida, home-made

explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...

s and a mission statement to "Kill all rags". Goldstein admitted that he planned to destroy the center and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate civil rights, conspiracy to damage religious property, and possession of unlicensed

destructive device In the United States, a destructive device is a type of firearm or explosive device regulated by the National Firearms Act of 1934, revised by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and Gun Control Act of 1968. Examples of destruct ...

s. He was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for convicts who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), inmates considered dangerous (Brazil), or those s ...

. Ahmed Bedier, a spokesman for the Council for American-Islamic Relations who worshipped at the Pinellas County mosque, alleged double standards in the treatment of Goldstein and argued that Goldstein should have been prosecuted as a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

, but prosecutors said the facts of the case didn't warrant such a charge. "I'm happy he's behind bars and will serve some time, but it's nowhere enough for the damage he intended to do," Bedier said. Shortly after his release from prison in 2014, Goldstein was sentenced to an additional year after police found a loaded gun in his apartment. In 2019, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for possession of an AK-47-style rifle, a shotgun and 14 semi-automatic handguns.

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External links

*http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/dr_robert_goldstein/index.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldstein, Robert J. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American Jews American male criminals People convicted of depriving others of their civil rights American prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government