If convicted, he faces a minimum penalty of five years and a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment.
On Monday, Pittman attended a the federal court hearing via video conference call from his hospital bed. According to a report from The Associated Press, both of his hands were visibly bandaged.
When the judge read him his rights, Pittman said: “Jesus Christ is Lord.”
The synagogue's library sustained the worst damage. Two torah scrolls housed there, were destroyed (Picture: Beth Israel Congregation)[Missing Credit]
Pittman was arrested after confessing his crimes to his father, who turned him in to authorities, the FBI said Monday.
On Monday, the Beth Israel Congregation released footage from security cameras, which shows a masked, hooded man pouring liquid from a gas can onto the floor and a couch in the building’s lobby.
During an interview with investigators, Pittman said he had stopped at a gas station on his way to the synagogue to purchase the gas used in the fire. According to the FBI affidavit, he then used an axe to break a window of the synagogue, before pouring the gas and using a torch lighter to start the fire.
Commenting on the crime, U.S. Attorney J.E. Baxter Kruger of the Southern District of Mississippi said: “This hateful, antisemitic attack on the Beth Israel Congregation is disturbing and unacceptable.
"Mississippians may rest assured that my office will not stand idly by when violence and intimidation threaten our community. We will seek the most serious charges warranted by the evidence and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
He added: “We remain fully committed to standing with Jewish Americans and protecting our communities from hatred and harm.”
In a statement released on Monday, the Beth Israel Congregation said: "We are grateful that he was apprehended so quickly and he appears to have admitted to committing this heinous act out of hatred for the Jewish people.
“This news puts a face and name to this tragedy, but does not change our resolve to proudly - even defiantly - continue Jewish life in Jackson in the face of hatred."
Pittman is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary and detention hearing on January 20.
