N.Y. synagogue bomb plotter sentenced to 25 years
The last of four men convicted last year in a bombing plot that included two New York synagogues received the minimum mandatory prison sentence, 25 years.
At Wednesday’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon and the defendant, Laguerre Payen, questioned whether Payen fit the definition of a terrorist.
Payen and three other co-conspirators were convicted last October of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, as well as other charges, for planning to blow up the Riverdale Jewish Center and the Riverdale Temple in the Bronx. They also are accused of seeking Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down military aircraft.
The four men, all from Newburgh, N.Y., were arrested in 2009 as part of an FBI sting operation that had begun the previous year.