Florida Man Arrested for Illegal Distribution of Information Relating to Explosives

U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III announces the arrest of Joshua Ryne Goldberg, 20, of Orange Park, Florida, for distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction.  If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

According to the criminal complaint, Goldberg was in contact, through on-line communications, with an individual who law enforcement knew to be a Confidential Human Source (CHS).  Between the months of July and September 2015, Goldberg distributed information to the CHS on how to manufacture a bomb.  He instructed the CHS to make a pressure cooker bomb and fill it with nails, metal and other items dipped in rat poison.  Goldberg instructed the CHS to place the bomb at an upcoming memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, that was commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.       

A complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless,  and until, proven guilty.

This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Jacksonville, Florida, Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Clay County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin C. Frein of the Middle District of Florida, with assistance provided by Trial Attorney Mara Kohn of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.