Federal hate crime charge in Missouri Islamic center fire

By JIM SALTER Associated Press
O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A man accused of setting the fire that destroyed an Islamic center in southeast Missouri has been charged with a federal hate crime. The U.S. Attorney’s office in St. Louis on Tuesday announced that a federal grand jury indicted 42-year-old Nicholas J. Proffitt in the April 24 fire that destroyed the Cape Girardeau Islamic Center. He is charged with damaging religious property because of the property’s religious character, using fire to commit a federal felony, and damaging a building used in interstate commerce through use of fire. Missouri has also charged Proffitt, of Cape Girardeau, with a state hate crime.