Texas Man Charged With Hate Crime In Mosque Fire

Marq Vincent Perez was indicted on hate crime charges on Thursday related to the fire that destroyed the Victoria Islamic Center on Jan. 28. Perez was charged with use of fire to commit a federal felony, possession of an unregistered destructive device, and hate crime damage to a religious property.

According to the United States attorney's office for the Southern District of Texas, Perez was originally indicted in March and charged with possession of a destructive device that prosecutors said he used in an attempt to blow up a car. Perez' lawyer, Mark A. DiCarlo, said on Thursday that the device was a firework.

According to the prosecutors, the court heard evidence at Perez' detention hearing in March that linked him to two burglaries at the center in late January as well as the fire, which took place on the evening of the second burglary.

As reported by The New York Times, Angela Dodge, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors, said that Perez was not charged with burglary on Thursday because it is not a federal offense.

Prosecutors did not provide any information on how the center was set ablaze and said nothing specific about a possible motive.

If convicted of the charges, Perez could spend as many as 20 years in prison for the hate crime and a minimum sentence of 10 years for the arson charge. He would also face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Di Carlo told the Times that Perez would plead not guilty to the new charges. “We believe this case is being handled like a political trial not a criminal trial,” he said. “At the beginning of the press conference today, they were talking about diversity and so on, but these are criminal allegations.”

Victoria is located about 125 miles southwest of Houston.

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Victoria Islamic Center Breaks Ground, Four Months After Fire

» For more on this story, visit The New York Times

— Image: Victoria Islamic Center (GoFundMe)