CLEVELAND, OH — A Valley City man accused of posting threatening social media messages and videos targeting a Lorain County mosque now faces federal charges.
Wyatt Brzoska, 20, was arrested in March, accused of planning an attack at a Columbia Station mosque.
Investigators said a search of his bedroom inside his family's home turned up 10 guns, around 700 rounds of ammunition, as well as tactical vests, gloves and a mask.
Pictures included in court filings show one of the rifles had Nazi symbols written on it.
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Faten Odeh, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Ohio, said the case shocked the Muslim community.
"What could have happened could have been a catastrophic, horrific slaughter of men, women and children, of innocent worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan," Odeh said.
Court filings show Brzoska waived indictment by a grand jury and instead was charged by information with three counts of threatening communications in federal court Wednesday.
Michael Benza, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University, says that signals a deal may already be in place.
"The information tells you that the prosecution and defense have reached an agreement," Benza said. "A defendant, as in this case, waives the grand jury process agrees to the information and it's basically a pre-worked out plea agreement."
But the terms of any agreement are not clear.
A spokesperson said the U.S. Attorney's Office couldn't comment on the case, and Brzoska's lawyer hasn't responded to a phone message.
But Benza believes prison time is likely.
"For a number of reasons. One, the magnitude of the threats that were being made. The nature of the target as a religious institution. But we also use prison time in these cases to send the message that this behavior is unacceptable to other people who might be thinking about it," Benza said.
Odeh says CAIR Ohio will be watching the case closely, hoping Brzoska remains locked up as he has been since his arrest and is held responsible for the terror she says her community still deals with.
"It's horrifying and disturbing and we would hope that the justice system does our community justice and exercises the full consequences according to the law," Odeh said.
