A former congressional candidate admitted to plotting the annihilation of a Muslim village identified by Sean Hannity and other conservatives as a terrorist training camp.
Robert Doggart was arrested last month after FBI officials said the ordained minister tried to recruit “expert Gunners” on social media to help him burn down a mosque, school, and other buildings in Hancock, New York – where law enforcement officials are frequently called to investigate right-wing rumors.
The 63-year-old Doggart was recorded speaking to a South Carolina militia member about the plot, which the failed Tennessee congressional candidate feared could turn deadly.
“If there’s a gun fight, well there’s a gun fight, and I want to come home because I love my family and I want to see my kids again,” Doggart told the militia member. “But I also understand that if it’s necessary to die, then that’s a good way to die.”
Doggart pleaded guilty last week to one count of interstate communication of threats, and he remains free on bond until his sentencing – when he faces up to five years in prison.
Prosecutors said Doggart gathered an M4 rifle, explosives, and light armor piercing bullets in connection with the plot, and investigators said he was recruiting snipers through social media and by telephone.
“When we meet in this state, the people we seek will know who we are,” Doggart told a woman during a recorded phone call. “We will be cruel to them, and we will burn down their buildings. If anyone attempts to harm us in any way, our stand gunner will take them down from 350 yards away.”
