Florida man pleads guilty to hate crime in mosque threat

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – A Florida man has pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime for phoning a bomb threat to a mosque.

In a statement, federal prosecutors in Miami said 26-year-old Dustin Allen Hughes of Cutler Bay pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs through the threatened use of a dangerous weapon and explosive.

Prosecutors said Hughes had threatened to detonate a bomb at the Jamaat Ul Muttaqeen Mosque in Pembroke Pines. The voicemail Hughes left May 5 was laced with profanity and statements such as, “You guys are all gonna be up in flames after I’m done with you!”

No explosives were found at the mosque.

Hughes faces up to 20 years in prison at his Sept. 6 sentencing.