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Seminole man agrees to plead guilty to threatening mosques

 
Published Jan. 25, 2016

TAMPA — He called himself a red-blooded American while threatening to kill children and old people as they practiced religion.

"I'm bringing it to you, baby," he said.

Martin Alan Schnitzler, 43, of Seminole, claimed those words — and others too vulgar to print — as his own in a federal plea agreement filed Monday.

He admitted that he obstructed religious freedom on Nov. 13 by leaving voice mail death threats at two Pinellas County mosques, prompting one to cancel services and both to seek extra security.

He called his conduct "stupid and wrong," the record said.

The calls to mosques in Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg came in the aftermath of the Paris attacks. Using epithets directed at people of Middle Eastern descent, the caller threatened retaliation with guns and fire bombs, claiming knowledge of scheduled activities.

Schnitzler's guilty plea hearing has not yet been scheduled. Sentencing would follow at a later date. The crime is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.