NewsA judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas sentenced Texas citizen Marq Perez to 24 1/2 years in prison on Wednesday for setting fire to the Victoria Islamic Center, a mosque south of Houston, in January 2017.
A jury convicted Perez in July of committing a hate crime in the burning of the mosque and for using fire to commit a felony.
The Victoria Muslim community later raised money to rebuild the mosque. When Perez learned this, he told a witness he would burn the mosque down again if it was rebuilt.
FBI Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Edward Michel commented on the importance of finding and convicting each person who threatens safety and civil rights:
By deliberately burning down this mosque, Mr. Perez attacked a specific religious congregation in the hope of spreading fear, conflict and depriving Victoria’s Islamic community of their peaceful and safe place to worship. Today’s sentencing illustrates that hate crimes will not be tolerated. No one in this country should feel afraid to openly practice their religion or express their beliefs. The FBI will continue to aggressively investigate civil rights violations wherever and whenever they occur.
