A man from West Palm Beach, Florida pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening to kill members of Michigan’s Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) last December.
Prosecutors charged 72-year-old Michael Shapiro with three federal counts of transmitting threats in interstate commerce after allegedly calling and threatening the Muslim American organization in three separate voicemails.
Shapiro plead guilty to one count Tuesday, according to CBS News.
“You’re a violent people,” Shapiro said in one message that AsAmNews reported earlier this year. “Why do you come to America? Why do you come to Europe? M***** f******. You’re violent. You’re killers. You’re rapists. I’m going to kill you, m****r f*****s!”
At the time of this incident, CAIR said it was one of many increased threats of violence against the organization since the war in Gaza.
Shaprio, who has a history of making threats, admitted that he targeted CAIR because of the religion and the supposed nationality of the people the organization serves, per The Detroit News. This is the third time he has been charged with federal crimes in the past five years.
Amy Doukoure, a staff attorney at CAIR Michigan, told The News that its officials are satisfied with the case’s outcome.
“What he’s doing is very serious,” Doukoure said to The News. “We had to close our business for several days. He was calling every day — we didn’t know where he was, whether he was serious.”
Shapiro may face up to 10 years in prison.
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