A man who vandalised a mosque in Florida and left a slab of bacon on its doorstep has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Michael Wolfe, 37, pleaded guilty to criminal mischief to a place of worship in a case considered a felony hate crime.
Surveillance video after the 2016 incident showed a man with a shaved head and camouflage clothing breaking windows, cameras and lights with a machete at the mosque in Titusville, Florida, police said.
Far-right white supremacist groups have used pork as a way to desecrate mosques in the U.S., according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
The Florida CAIR branch agreed with prosecutors and defence attorneys in determining Wolfe’s sentence.
Florida CAIR spokesman, Wilfredo Ruiz, said in a statement issued on Wednesday: “The Florida Muslim Community is suffering an unprecedented number of hate crimes.
“Multiple mosques and Islamic institutions have been broken into, vandalized, and even set on fire.”
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Wolfe was also sentenced to 15 years of probation, to be served after his prison sentence.
