CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A former Kent State University professor known for his anti-Israel views was sentenced Wednesday to five months in prison, followed by five months' home detention, for lying to the FBI.

Julio Pino, 58, pleaded guilty in April to one count of making a false statement to law enforcement. The former professor has a history of making controversial statements in line with his Muslim faith and his anti-Israel views. Federal authorities have investigated him for inflammatory comments dating back to 2009, including statements made against President Barack Obama, Assistant U.S. Attorney Om Kakani said.

However, the criminal charge to which Pino ultimately pleaded stemmed from social media postings to a St. Louis man arrested in January 2016 for making threats toward a family court judge presiding over his child custody battle.

Pino apologized during his sentencing and said his decision to lie to agents "was borne out of confusion and fear."

Chief U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan noted that the case was serious, which she said she believes Pino understands. She also said Pino's online postings were disturbing and suggested violence and opposition to the U.S.

Ultimately, she told Pino that he may not be a danger to the community, but rather "you just like to be controversial."

Gaughan also ordered Pino, a Kent resident, to pay a $2,500 fine. He will remain on probation for three years and he will not be allowed to use the Internet without permission from his probation officer.

Pino declined to make a statement after the hearing. His attorney Warner Mendenhall said he thought the sentence was fair and it was in line with Pino's plea agreement. He said the government has been sensitive to his client's free-speech rights in this case and in previous inquiries.

Mendenhall said Pino ceased using all social media.

Pino, a Cuban immigrant and U.S. citizen, was hired at Kent State in 1992. He gained tenure at the university, specializing in Latin American history and the Third World. Following his charging, Kent State suspended Pino, barred him from going onto any of its campuses. Mendenhall said Pino offered to resign before the suspension and left the university in May.

Federal prosecutors say Pino lied to agents regarding his interactions with a Facebook friend identified as "J.E." Pino posted statements and images about J.E. and J.E.'s custody issues on social media between May 2015 and January 2016, according to charging documents.

J.E., which Missouri court records indicate is a man named Jason Eyer, who later pleaded guilty to a charge of tampering with a judicial proceeding.

The charging document against Pino largely focused on an online communications Pino and J.E. had on Sept. 11, 2015.

In one instance, J.E. wrote that "I'm playing the game backwards. and winning! . . . I will kill 100s of people if they take my rights as a father away!", the criminal information says.

Pino said, "Yes, in military terms this is known as 'the Parthian shot'."

FBI agents interviewed Pino in Miami a week after J.E.'s arrest, and Pino denied knowing him.

A recent FBI probe into Pino was made public in 2016 as agents interviewed Kent State students about him to see if he had espoused any radical views, according to reports at the time.

Pino dismissed those allegations as baseless. He denied ties to any political organizations or terrorist groups, in the United States or abroad, and said he has never discussed Islamic politics with students, faculty or campus employees.

Still, Pino has made his anti-Israel views known.

In 2014, he posted an "open letter" to "academic friends of Israel" that said they are "directly responsible for the murder of over 1,400 Palestinian children, women and elderly civilians."

He also wrote; "Your names are scrawled on every bullet fired, bomb dropped, body buried and burnt forehead in Gaza."

Pino also shouted "death to Israel" during a speech by a former Israeli diplomat in October 2011 at Kent State.

Mendenhall said Wednesday that "Mr. Pino, despite some of his rhetoric, believes in nonviolent solutions to world problems."

This story was updated to correct Pino's fields of study.

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