Missouri man pleads guilty in arson at mosque Planned Parenthood clinics

Tuesday 19 Apr 2016 - 11:08 Makkah mean time-12-7-1437

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Missouri, (IINA) - Jedediah Stout of Joplin, Missouri, pleaded guilty in the Western District of Missouri on Monday in connection with the arson of a Joplin mosque and two attempted arsons of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Joplin, eNews Park Forest reported.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson of the Western District of Missouri, announced this.
The 32 year-old Stout, who told investigators that he did not like Islam as a religion, pleaded guilty to setting fire that destroyed the Islamic Society of Joplin Mosque (ISJM) on Aug. 6, 2012.  The mosque served families from neighboring states, many of whom provided funding for the operation of the mosque.  As a direct result of the fire, many donations made during the Muslim holy period of Ramadan were destroyed.
Stout admitted that he committed the mosque arson using the same kind of incendiary device he later used in two Planned Parenthood arson attempts.
Stout pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush of the Western District of Missouri to a four-count information that charges him with one count of damage to the ISJM, two counts of arson at a Planned Parenthood facility in Joplin and one count of violating the freedom of access to clinic entrances Act. He remains in federal custody without bond.
On Oct. 3 and Oct. 4, 2013, Stout was captured on surveillance cameras as he made consecutive attempts to set fire to the Planned Parenthood facility in Joplin.  In both instances, he threw items containing an accelerant onto the roof of the facility and then ignited material attached to the accelerant. Stout was apprehended soon after the Planned Parenthood arson attempts. He admitted to investigators that he was responsible for both Planned Parenthood arson attempts and for the mosque arson.  Stout further admitted that he targeted Planned Parenthood because they provide reproductive health care services.
“In pleading guilty, Stout admitted that he attempted to burn the Planned Parenthood because it provides reproductive health services, and that he set fire to the ISJM because of its religious character,” said Gupta. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute violence against reproductive health services providers and crimes motivated by religious animus.”
SM/IINA

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