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Texas teen accused of setting a synagogue on fire kept a journal that included a note to "scout out a target." - Franklin Barrett Sechriest, 18, now faces a federal charge of
arson for the October 31 incident.
A Texas teen accused of setting a local synagogue on fire kept a journal that included a note to "scout out a target" days before the blaze, the
Franklin Barrett Sechriest, an 18-year-old Texas State University student, was previously arrested on state charges for the October 31 fire at Congregation Beth Israel in Austin.
He now faces a federal charge of arson for the incident.
In a newly unsealed federal criminal complaint affidavit filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, an FBI special agent alleges that Sechriest "set an intentional fire" at the synagogue using a liquid accelerant.
An excerpt from Sechriest's handwritten journal dated October 28 read "scout out a target," according to the court documents.
The words were included in a list format that also included notes to "sleep" and "eat at wild wings."
A journal entry on the date of the blaze, included the statement: "I set a synagogue on fire," the affidavit stated.
Other words in that entry included: "go back to dorm," "meditate," and "get matched on 'tinder,'" the documents show.
Surveillance footage captured Sechriest carrying a five-gallon utility jug and toilet paper up to the front of the synagogue before the blaze erupted, according to the court documents.
When the FBI executed search warrants at the home of Sechriest in San Marcos, investigators discovered inside a Jeep Cherokee three 33-ounce glass bottles, three bottles of lighter fluid, and a lighter — materials that can be used to make "destructive" Molotov cocktails, the documents state.
Anti-Semitic stickers that said it was okay to "hate" were also found in the Jeep Cherokee that investigators say Sechriest drove, according to the court documents.
Another sticker put a cross across the head of a stick figure standing at a podium emblazoned with the Star of David, with the words "Kill Them All."
Additionally, investigators found Sechriest's 2021 planning calendar used racist language, the court documents state.
An attorney for Sechriest did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider.