Texas Man Indicted For Threatening Murfreesboro Mosque

U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin announces the indictment

A Texas man has been indicted for calling in a bomb threat last year against a mosque in Murfreesboro. In announcing the indictment Thursday, the U.S. attorney for Middle Tennessee said he would not tolerate attacks on religious freedom.

The two-count indictment charges Javier Alan Correa of Corpus Christi with phoning in the bomb threat, as well as trying to intimidate members of the mosque.

U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin says that’s a violation of the constitutional protection for religious freedom. And he brought up the mosque’s ongoing court fight, in which opponents are trying to stop its new facility from opening. He says the Justice Department is watching…

“…And will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the congregants of this mosque are afforded their first-amendment rights. We will not sit idly by and allow the fundamental rights of these citizens to be violated.”

The 24-year-old Correa could face more than a decade in prison if convicted for the bomb threat. But his indictment hardly solves all the woes of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. Opponents are taking the mosque to court in hopes of forestalling permission to open its new facility this summer.

Murfreesboro Native Elizabeth Coker

Elizabeth Coker worries it could be dangerous.

“The first thing that I wanted to know is why the FBI has not continued to investigate the radicals that are in this mosque. We have uncovered through court testimony at least one, maybe two.”

U.S. Attorney Martin’s statement that he’s keeping an eye on the court case to make sure the Islamic Center’s constitutional rights are protected gave some reassurance to Jihan Abdulla, an MTSU student who sometimes worships there.

Jihan Abdulla, a junior at MTSU

“It shows that you are not fighting this battle alone. You have the constitution behind you. You have America’s laws behind you, backing you up.”

Aside from the bomb threat, an arson two years ago at the site of the new mosque remains under investigation.

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Photos by WPLN’s Maria Ochoa Vargas.