Chattanooga, TN – Robert Doggart, a 2014 Congressional Candidate, ordained minister, and former engineer for the Tennessee Valley Authority, was found guilty in plotting to attack Islamberg, a muslim community in New York state on February 16, 2017. His plans included burning down Islamberg’s mosque and school; and killing anyone who tried to stop him.

Robert Doggart was arrested in April 2015 and charged with solicitation to commit arson, solicitation to commit a civil rights violations, and two counts of making a threat in interstate commerce. He had reached out to members of militia groups to garner support for his plan, however, they reported him to the FBI, who then began recording communication between Doggart and an informant.

The story first came to our attention in May 2015 when The Muslims of America Inc tweeted a link to a press release along with a photograph of the children of their community holding a sign that read “Why do you want to kill us, Robert Doggart?“.

Robert Doggart, why do you want to kill Americans? http://t.co/YGqA85pa1f #AmericanMuslimLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/SMz58SXiNb

— TMOA (@TMOAmerica) May 15, 2015

At the time of his arrest law enforcement didn’t send out a press release or hold a press conference and almost no media outlets reported on the story.

After seeing the initial press release from The Muslims of America, Inc Unicorn Riot was among the first to report comprehensively on the story, along with Heavy.com and Jerod MacDonald-Evoy of The Northstar Post.

Twitter users, including the Anonymous account Your Anon News, began asking other national media outlets why they weren’t reporting on the story.

.@CNN @FoxNews @HuffingtonPost @CBSNews @NBCNews if u think we r going 2 stop asking about #robertdoggart then u need 2 get 2 know us better

— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) May 18, 2015

@CNN Here, Let Me Help You. #RobertDoggart:http://t.co/Uyudy8pZLR

— (Pieces Of) Lisa (@SFSK8rGrrl) May 18, 2015

We also covered the story in our 3rd episode of our live news broadcast, Deprogram on May 31st.

According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Doggart’s defense attorney told the jury “he was convinced Islamberg’s residents wanted to carry out a terror attack on New York City, in part because of Fox News broadcasts“.

Local law enforcement as well as the FBI have repeatedly confirmed that there is absolutely no evidence linking Islamberg to any terrorist or illegal activity.

“It’s kind of perplexing to us,” local Police Chief Craig Dumont said on New York’s AM 970. “All this recent media attention in regard to potential terrorist training camps and things that are going on there. We don’t see it. We just don’t find any of that to be valid at this time. … There are no active threats that we are aware of at this time.” – Heavy.com, “Robert Doggart: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

The Department of Justice website states that, jurors at the trial “heard recorded phone conversations between Doggart and others, including one call in which Doggart said, ‘I don’t want to have to kill children, but there’s always collateral damage.’”

From Chatanoogan.com

“…the former candidate for Congress “explicitly (said) the plan included burning down a school, a mosque and a cafeteria,” the complaint noted.

 

“In a call intercepted on March 17 pursuant to the wiretap, Doggart told a female, ‘When we meet in this state, the people we seek will know who we are. We will be cruel to them. And we will burn down their buildings (and) if anyone attempts to, uh, harm us in any way, our stand gunner will take them down from 350 yards away.”

 

“The standoff gunner would be me,” Doggart continued, according to the agent’s complaint.

 

As the conversation continued, the complaint went on, “We’re gonna be carrying an M4 with 500 rounds of ammunition, light armor piercing. A pistol with three extra magazines, and a machete. And if it gets down to the machete, we will cut them to shreds.”

 

He did not anticipate much trouble reaching the target community and carrying out the group’s plans,” the complaint says he told the woman.

 

“I actually think we can get in and out of there without getting caught,” he reportedly told her. “There’s only four policemen in town. The fire department is a volunteer department, so it’ll take them 35 minutes to get there while that building will be burned down already. And we’ll be long gone by then.”

Doggart’s calls with Tom Lineaweaver, who ran for governor of Pennsylvania in 2014 and is a 2020 presidential hopeful, were also wiretapped. Excerpt from Times Free Press:

“The worst part, Doggart added, was that the Federal Bureau of Investigation knew about it, but “had been ordered to stand down.” And the National Security Agency and Homeland Security were in on it, too, he said.

 

“The whole bunch of them have been ordered to stand down,” Doggart said in that call. “And unless somebody goes up there and burns down their buildings and kills whoever opposes the burning down of those buildings, [Islamberg] is gonna do that.”

 

“Um,” Lineaweaver replied. “Hmm.“

The judge ordered that Doggart be taken into custody immediately following his conviction on Thursday. Doggart is facing up to ten years for each of the four counts for which he was found guilty. Sentencing is set for May 2017.

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