Guilty Plea in Plot on Islamic Sites

A Florida doctor pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of plotting to blow up Islamic centers and mosques in retaliation for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, prosecutors said.

Robert Goldstein, a podiatrist, entered a guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to violate civil rights, attempting to damage religious property and obstruction of the free exercise of religious beliefs.

Prosecutors indicated they would seek a 15-year prison term.

Goldstein was arrested in August after police found several high-powered guns and 20 bombs in his home near St. Petersburg. Police said he had a list of 50 Islamic centers and mosques in Florida and a detailed plan for attacking an Islamic school.

Authorities said Goldstein told a friend, Michael Hardee, that he wanted to retaliate against Arabs and Muslims for the Sept. 11 attacks and for hostilities in the Middle East.

He devised a plan to attack Islamic centers in Florida’s Pinellas and Seminole counties and got Hardee to agree to drive him to the centers, officials said.

No sentencing date was set for Goldstein. His attorney, Myles H. Malman, said that Goldstein suffers from severe mental illness and that part of the plea agreement involves him being sent to a federal institution for treatment.

“Today’s guilty plea is a reminder that acts of violence targeted at individuals because of their race, religion or national origin will not be permitted in the United States,” Ralph Boyd, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a written statement.

Hardee pleaded guilty in October to four counts of conspiracy and weapons possession. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 1.

Hardee entered his plea about five weeks after his estranged wife, Kristi, pleaded guilty to illegally possessing five unlicensed bombs and agreed to testify against him.