AUSTIN, Texas — The man accused of intentionally setting a fire at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Austin on Halloween 2021 has pleaded guilty to federal charges: one a hate crime of damage to religious property and the other an arson charge.
Franklin Barrett Sechriest appeared in a 20-minute hearing in U.S. District Court Thursday afternoon, waiving his right to an appeal.
A judge will sentence him at a later date. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
Sechriest was arrested in 2021 in connection with the fire on Oct. 31. He was 18 at the time.
Arson investigators said they linked Sechriest to the fire in multiple ways, including his car and license plate caught on security footage. Investigators determined that a flammable liquid was used to accelerate the fire, which caused thousands of dollars worth of damage, in particular to the synagogue's wooden doors.
At the time of the fire, Sechriest was a member of the Texas State Guard and a student at Texas State University in San Marcos.
In November 2021, Sechriest was charged with federal charges after an unsealed criminal complaint revealed that he had written racist and anti-Semitic journal entries leading up to the fire. According to an affidavit filed by the FBI, Sechriest wrote "scout a target" on Oct. 31, 2021, the day of the fire.
In the following days, he wrote in his journal "I set a synagogue on fire" and that he would become worried when authorities announced that they were hopeful they would find a suspect, according to excerpts in the affidavit.
The affidavit also stated that Sechriest's Jeep and license plate were seen on security footage and that he resembled the person seen on video just before the blaze started at the synagogue. Officials who searched his home and Jeep also found other evidence linking him to the fire, including stickers in his car that indicated racist ideologies, as well as materials consistent with making Molotov cocktails.
During a detention hearing in December 2021, Sechriest was ordered to remain in custody. The judge cited a few reasons as to why, including the arson charges themselves and Sechriest's "history and characteristics, specifically his mental health history."
In March 2022, a federal grand jury in Austin returned a three-count indictment charging Sechriest with crimes related to the fire set at the synagogue. The indictment charged Sechriest with one count each of damage to religious property, use of fire to commit a federal crime and arson.