Reno-area skinheads sentenced for attempted firebombing of temple

Associated Press News/December 1, 2000

Five skinheads who admitted to an attempted firebombing of a Jewish temple in Reno, Nevada, have been sentenced to prison. Their sentences range from five to 15 years.

All five self-proclaimed white supremacists -- ages 19 to 26 -- agreed to plead guilty to federal hate crime and bombing charges in a plea bargain that kept them from sentences of up to 30 years.

The sentencing comes a year and a day after they tried unsuccessfully to burn down Temple Emanu-El. First, a plastic bottle filled with cement was thrown at an eight-foot-high window, followed by a Molotov cocktail. The window cracked, but didn't break, and the gasoline bomb fell to the sidewalk.

Prosecutors believe the five belong to a gang called Reno Aryan Skinheads, but defense lawyers deny there is such a group.