Man arrested in Ore. mosque bombing

August 26, 2011|Associated Press

EUGENE, Ore. - Federal officials arrested a 24-year-old man this week in the firebombing of an Oregon mosque last year and said he was motivated by racial hatred after a Muslim man was accused of plotting to set off a car bomb in Portland.

Cody Crawford, who has been under investigation since the Corvallis mosque was torched Nov. 28, was arrested Wednesday night at a home in nearby Monmouth. Officials said he did not resist arrest.

Crawford was indicted on charges of damaging religious property for racial reasons, which is a hate crime, and of using fire to commit a felony.

“This was an attack on religious freedom and an attack on the American way of life,’’ said Dwight Holton, US attorney for Oregon.

The mosque firebombing occurred just two days after FBI agents arrested a Somali-American, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, in a sting operation at Portland’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Mohamud was charged with plotting to kill people at the ceremony by igniting a car bomb.

Mohamud had occasionally worshipped at the Corvallis mosque.

The mosque’s office burned in the November blaze, but nobody was hurt.

Crawford appeared briefly in court yesterday and was ordered held in jail while legal proceedings go forward. He did not enter a plea.

Assistant US Attorney Bud Fitzgerald said Crawford would be a flight risk if released.

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