A man who set fire last September to the Islamic mosque in Fort Pierce, Fla., where the Orlando nightclub shooter occasionally attended was sentenced on Monday to 30 years in prison.
Joseph Schreiber of Fort St. Lucie, Fl., who was previously convicted twice in Florida for theft, pleaded no contest in Monday’s hearing before Circuit Judge Steven Levin.
Due to his criminal history, Schreiber faced being sentenced to life. Schreiber will have to pay $10,000 in restitution even though damages were more than $100,000 and the mosque has been relocated due to the severity of the damage, according to a report.
Schreiber, 32, had confessed to detectives following the Sept. 11 fire. In a Facebook post from last July, Schreiber, who is Jewish, wrote that “all Islam is radical.” He told law enforcement that Muslims “are trying to infiltrate our government” and “the teaching of Islam should be completely, completely illegal.”
The fire was intentionally started when no one was in the building and meant to showcase his fear of the religion, not his hate for it, investigators said. No one was hurt in the fire.
“My message is this to all the Muslim communities on the face of the Earth — make peace with America and make peace with Israel and stop the killings, stop the attacks,” Schreiber said during his sentencing.
Omar Mateen, who had attended the Islamic Center, killed 49 people and injured 53 others last June in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Surveillance video of the incident showed Schreiber driving up to the mosque on his motorcycle. He had a bottle of liquid in his hand in addition to papers he used in the fire. The incident was not reported to 911 for 45 minutes and took more than four hours for first responders to put out.
