FBI offers reward in search for Las Vegas mosque vandal suspect
The FBI is offering up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the person or people responsible for wrapping bacon around a central Las Vegas mosque's front door handles Sunday morning.
Surveillance video shows a man meticulously wrapping the raw meat around the handles about 3:15 a.m. Sunday. A man arriving for the fajr prayer noticed the bacon about 5:45 a.m. and alerted other congregants. Another man grabbed a napkin, took the bacon and put it in the trash. Then, other men entered the mosque.
A Muslim civil rights group on Tuesday called for a federal and state hate crime investigation into an incident at Masjid-e-Tawheed, near the intersection of Jones Boulevard and Viking Road.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called the incident a "desecration," in a statement Tuesday and said that it was one of many recent attacks on Muslim houses of worship nationwide.
"Muslims are prohibited from consuming pork products and bigots often use pigs or pork to offend Muslim sensibilities," the group said.
Metro officer Larry Hadfield said Tuesday that Las Vegas police had no plans to tap state or federal resources to help investigate. But that changed.
Bridget Pappas, a Las Vegas FBI spokeswoman said Wednesday that because of the crime's nature, "the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police notified the FBI, which is investigating the matter as a possible hate crime."
All reported hate crimes are assessed by the FBI and, depending on the merits of the allegation, a criminal investigation is initiated, Pappas said. Reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandalist or vandalists would be provided by the FBI, she said.
On its website, the FBI defines a hate crime as "a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias." For collecting statistics, the site added, Congress has defined a hate crime as a "criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation."
According the agency's site, 1,014 "religious bias" hate crimes were reported to the FBI in 2014; about 16 percent of them were committed at churches, synagogues, temples or mosques.
The FBI adds, "Hate itself is not a crime — and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties."
Metro had videotapes of the incident but hadn't identified any suspects as of Wednesday.
The FBI described the man in the video as white with black or dark brown hair, and long, thin sideburns. He was wearing a dark blue hat, jacket and black-framed glasses, the agency wrote in a statement.
Anyone with information on the incident is urged to call the FBI in Las Vegas at 702-385-1281 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or visit crimestoppersofnv.com.
Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Kimber Laux contributed to this report. Contact Kimberly De La Cruz at kdelacruz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find her on Twitter: @KimberlyinLV
