By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON, MINNESOTA – Two Ford County men entered a federal courtroom in Minnesota Thursday to plead guilty to a crime spree, including the August 2017 bombing of an Minnesota Islamic center. Their motive, according to prosecutors, was to scare Muslims into leaving the country.
Michael McWhorter, 29, and Joe Morris, 23, both from Clarence, are admitted members of the “White Rabbits” militia group founded by bombing co-defendant, Michael Hari, 47. He too is from Clarence, and is said to be an ex-Ford County Sheriff’s deputy and once ran for sheriff as a Libertarian candidate.
McWhorter and Morris also confessed to trying in November 2017 to set on fire a Champaign woman’s health clinic that performs abortions, in addition to committing armed robberies at Mount Vernon and Watseka Walmarts, and an Indiana home invasion in December of that year.
McWhorter and Morris said the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota was targeted because it was far enough away so they wouldn’t be suspected of the crime.
Morris said he broke a window to the Imam’s office and McWhorter lit the fuse of the pipe bomb, made from a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel, before throwing it into the building. Congregants were in the mosque at the time for morning prayers. There were no injuries.
“The defendants engaged in a violent multi-state crime spree that terrorized communities, including members of the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Minnesota. The defendants’ criminal acts are reprehensible and antithetical to our values as a nation. Every individual has the fundamental right to live life free from the threat of violence and discrimination, no matter who they are, what they believe, or where they worship,” said United States Attorney Erica H.MacDonald.
“The dedication and collaboration of our law enforcement partners across several jurisdictions to bring these defendants to justice is a powerful example of our unwavering devotion to seek justice for all victims, and to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law any individual or group that seeks to threaten another’s civil rights through the commission of such vile hate crimes,” said MacDonald in a prepared statement.
“All people are entitled to live free from violence and fear, regardless of their religion or place of worship,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division.
“The Justice Department is committed to holding hate crimes perpetrators accountable under the law for their dangerous and criminal actions against innocent community members. This crime was not only an attack on the intended target, it was meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community. Because of that wide-ranging impact, investigating this crime and others like it are high priority for the FBI,” said Jill Sanborn, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Minneapolis Division.
“The FBI is charged with protecting civil rights and our agents in both the Minneapolis and Springfield field offices in conjunction with the Joint Terrorism Task Force swiftly investigated this case side by side with the ATF, the Bloomington (Minnesota) Police Department and other law enforcement partners with one singular goal – to bring the bombers to justice and most importantly to help the Dar al-Farooq community begin to feel safe and secure once again.”
The incendiary devise they placed at Women’s Health Practice in Champaign did not go off, according to authorities.
A sentencing date has been scheduled yet for McWhorter and Morris.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
