CONSEQUENCES

Two Men Get Prison Time for Plot to Attack Muslim Community

A judge told the pair they were a “threat to everyone in our democratic society.”

Two men who allegedly plotted to attack a Muslim community in upstate New York along with two others were sentenced to four to 12 years in prison on Friday, local news station WHEC reports. Brian Colaneri, 20, and Andrew Crysel, 19,  had pleaded guilty to terrorism conspiracy in June. Colaneri and Crysel—along with Vincent Vetromile and Nicholas Pheilshifter—are accused of targeting the rural community of Islamberg, which faced accusations from right-wing websites of being a terror enclave. Police said the four had access to over 20 rifles and three homemade explosives when they were arrested in January. At the sentencing hearing, Colaneri reportedly expressed remorse, saying, “I never wanted it to go that far.” “Your terrorist threat was not only an invidious threat to the way of life of your victims, but also a threat to everyone in our democratic society,” Monroe County Court Judge Samuel Valleriani told the pair at the sentencing, according to The Associated Press. Vetromile and Pheilshifter both pleaded guilty to weapons possession charges, and will be sentenced at a later date.