[ARABNEWS] Titusville Police detectives have made an arrest in connection with the New Year's Day vandalism of The Islamic Society of Central Florida Masjid Al-Munin Mosque.
Michael Scott Wolfe, 35, of Titusville, was incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
Monday evening in Titusville, and charged with criminal mischief to a mosque, a third degree felony.
The evidence revealed Wolfe, wearing camouflage clothing, entered the mosque carport at 11 p.m. and destroyed property with a machete and placed raw bacon in and around the front door. He was caught on surveillance camera breaking windows, cameras and lights with a machete at a mosque and leaving bacon on the doorstep.
Wolfe was transported to the Brevard County Jail. He is being held on a $2,000 bail. He is expected to appear before a judge Tuesday.
Prior to the arrest, the leader of the mosque said the act was not typical of city area Muslims call home.
"You can't help but feel this is a hateful act. All of the negative media, the politicians who want to ban Muslims, close mosques...messages like that motivate people who have an illness in their heart," said Muhammad Musri, who is based in the Orlando area and who oversees a network of 10 mosques as part of the Islamic Society of Central Brevard.
Musri, who in public comments has called on Muslims to build stronger ties with the communities they live in, was at the Masjid Al-Munin mosque in Titusville overseeing the cleanup from vandalism that happened overnight Friday.
It was the third time in less than a month that vandals have left pork products at mosques in the US, said the civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations
... the Moslem Brüderbund's American arm ...
(CAIR
...designated a terrorist group by the UAE...
), which has called for state and federal investigations.
Other civil rights advocates are also calling on state and federal authorities to investigate.
"People are afraid to take their children back to the mosque...a machete was used," said Rasha Mubarak, the Orlando Regional Coordinator for the CAIR. "They know we don't consume pork. This is something that those who are Islamaphobic tend to bring up or use," Mubarak said. Because of that, CAIR officials said it was an indicator of a bias motive in targeting the mosque. 
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