Federal Officials Seek Prison For Wilmington Man Who Threatened To Burn Down A Mosque

BOSTON - Federal prosecutors will recommend a Wilmington man spend at least four years in federal prison for posting inflammatory threats on Facebook to burn down a local mosque.

In U.S. District Court on Feb. 14, Keogan, 44, of Wilmington, pleaded guilty to making threats over Facebook to injure or intimidate another or destroy a building by means of fire, illegal possession of a firearm and possession of child pornography.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15 by U.S. District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Garland will recommend a sentence of 4.75 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and other conditions, according to court documents. Garland also wants Keogan, a convicted felon, to forfeit 50 firearms and ammunition investigators seized from his home.

Keogan's defense attorney will likely seek a lesser sentence.

Keogan’s threats were directed at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) in Roxbury. He posted an image that depicted a mosque on fire with lettering that said “Burn you local mosque,” as well as the statement “Hello scumbags,” accompanied with a smiley face emoji, according to prosecutors.

He also posted the same threatening message to the Facebook page of the Islamic Society of Northeastern University.

During a search of Koegan’s Facebook page, investigators discovered multiple posts, dating back to 2013, that supported the burning of mosques.

A search of Keogan’s Facebook account showed photos of him holding firearms and suggested he had been stockpiling firearms and ammunition.

Authorities placed a GPS tracking device on Keogan’s car, which tracked his route to a New Hampshire gun store where he bought two boxes of 8mm rifle ammunition and two bags of loose 8mm rifle ammunition that he drove directly to his Wilmington residence in May, 2016.

In July 2016, Keogan was arrested and authorities who searched his home found a weapons cache that included light machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and thousands of ammunition rounds.
A search of his iPhone and iPad revealed that Keogan was also in possession of child pornography.

Courtesy photos of Patrick Keogan and his Facebook post.