LOC09:22
06:22 GMT
WASHINGTON, July 17 (KUNA) -- The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that a federal jury in Texas has returned guilty verdicts on all counts as charged related to the 2017 burning of a local mosque.
The Justice Department said in a statement that the jury found Marq Perez, 26, guilty for "a hate crime" in the burning of the Victoria Islamic Center in January 2017 and for "use of a fire to commit a felony." In addition, they found he possessed an "unregistered destructive device" for an incident that also occurred in January 2017.
According to the statement, "testimony in court detailed how Perez planned the event and revealed how he had done "recon" of the mosque in the days leading up to the fire."
"Additional evidence presented in court revealed that items taken during two burglaries at the mosque were found at his home, and also an improvised bomb similar to what was used in an attempted car-bombing approximately two weeks prior to the fire," it added.
Perez faces up to 20 years in federal prison for the hate crime and up to 10 years for possessing an unregistered destructive device. (end)
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