FACT SHEET: Protecting Houses of Worship

On March 30, 2021, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland’s first directive to the Department of
Justice was a 30-day expedited internal review to determine how the department could deploy all
the tools at its disposal to counter the recent rise in hate crimes and hate incidents, including at
houses of worship. After that review, in May, the Attorney General issued a memorandum
announcing steps that the Department would immediately begin to take to deter hate crimes and
bias-related incidents, address them when they occur, support those victimized by them, and
reduce the pernicious effects these incidents have on our society. Since then, the department has
aggressively worked to implement the Attorney General’s directives to increase resources to
combat hate crimes through federal law enforcement action and to enhance training, support and
outreach to state and local partners.

Pursuing Hate Crimes Prosecutions and Investigations: The Department has successfully
investigated and prosecuted a number of religiously motivated hate crimes in recent years.
Examples from the past year include:

• California Man Sentenced to Life Followed by 30 Years in Prison for Federal Hate
Crimes Related to 2019 Poway Synagogue Shooting and Attempted Mosque Arson:
John T. Earnest, was sentenced in the Southern District of California to life followed by
30 years in prison for entering the Chabad of Poway on April 27, 2019, opening fire and
killing one woman, injured three others, and attempting to kill 50 others.

• Dar al-Farooq Mosque Bomber Sentenced to 53 Years in Prison: Emily Claire Hari,
50, f/k/a Michael Hari, was sentenced to 53 years in prison for the Aug. 5, 2017, bombing
of the Dar al-Farooq (DAF) Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota.

• Ohio Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Attempting to Provide Material

Support to ISIS and Attempting to Commit a Hate Crime: Damon M. Joseph, aka
Abdullah Ali Yusuf, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempting to provide
material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), and attempting to
commit a hate crime, for planning an attack on a synagogue in the Toledo, Ohio area.

• Southern Colorado Man Sentenced to More Than 19 Years for Plotting to Blow Up
Synagogue: Richard Holzer was sentenced to over 19 years in prison, followed by 15
years of supervised release. Holzer previously pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and
explosives charges for plotting to blow up the Temple Emanuel Synagogue in Pueblo,
Colorado. As part of his plea, Holzer admitted that his conduct constituted an act of
domestic terrorism.

• Tennessee Man Pleads Guilty to Civil Rights Violations for Series of Church
Arsons: Alan Douglas Fox of Nashville, pleaded guilty to all counts of an information
charging him with setting fire to the Crievewood United Methodist Church on June 17,
2019; the Crievewood Baptist Church on June 25, 2019; the Saint Ignatius of Antioch
Catholic Church on June 25, 2019; and the Priest Lake Community Baptist Church on
June 26, 2019; and with carrying and using a firearm during the arson of the Crievewood
 Baptist Church. During the plea hearing, Fox admitted to intentionally setting the fires
because of the religious character of the four churches.

• California Woman Sentenced to 15 Months for Threatening to Bomb Catholic Prep

School: Sonia Tabizada of San Jacinto, California, was sentenced to 15 months and 13
days for intentionally obstructing persons in the enjoyment of their free exercise of
religious beliefs by threatening to bomb the Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in
Washington, D.C.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has vigorously investigated hate crimes and has
supported efforts by federal, state, and local partners in their investigations of such crimes. In
2021, the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division designated civil rights crimes as a national threat
priority, thereby elevating civil rights from the FBI’s fifth investigative priority to one of the top
priorities across all FBI investigative programs.

Conducting Training Sessions: The Department is committed to providing training and

education to help protect houses of worship and faith communities. For example:

o In October 2020, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security hosted a virtual Security
& Safety Symposium for Faith-Based Communities, which was attended by
approximately 2000 attendees across the country. The webinar focused on strengthening
relationships between law enforcement and communities of faith and contained two main
teaching blocks: Enhancing Security in Houses of Worship and Practicing Safety Within
Your Community.

o The Community Relations Service also regularly works with faith leaders as part of its
mission providing facilitation, mediation, training, and consultation services, and
responds to requests from religious leaders seeking to identify actions their congregations
can take to deter future hate incidents and increase reporting. For example, CRS’s
Protecting Places of Worship forum is a half-day session that provides faith-based
leaders and congregations with information about religious hate crimes, state and federal
hate crimes laws, law enforcement threat assessments, and ways to protect places of
worship from potential hate crimes and other threats of violence. CRS held three forums
in 2021, including one forum held after a shooting at a church in Texas.

Funding: The Department Office of Justice Programs has several grant programs that can be
used to prevent and address hate crimes, including crimes targeting houses of worship. For
example:

o The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program: This is a
formula grant program that is the leading federal source of criminal justice funding to
states, territories, local governments, and tribes, and can be used for crime prevention
efforts to increase patrols and deployments that bolster the security of at-risk nonprofit
organizations, including churches and other places of worship. In 2021, the Department
awarded $271 million in JAG funds to support state, local and tribal public safety and
community justice activities.
o The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Program: This program
supports state, local, and tribal law enforcement and prosecution agencies and their
partners in conducting outreach, educating practitioners and the public, enhancing victim
reporting tools, and investigating and prosecuting hate crimes committed on the basis of a
victim’s protected characteristics, including religion. In 2021, the Department awarded
roughly $7.5M through the Shepard-Byrd and related Collaborative Responses to Hate
Crime site-based and TTA and JAG precipitous increase in crime funding.