Arlington Man Sentenced for Playground Arson at Mosque

An Arlington man has been sentenced for setting fire to playground equipment at a mosque.

34-year-old Henry Clay Glaspell will spend 14 months in federal prison, following a guilty plea last February to a hate crime charge.

Glaspell admitted to setting fire to playground equipment at the Dar El-Eman Islamic Center in July 2010, in addition to stealing and damaging mosque property, throwing used cat litter at the front door of the mosque, and shouted ethnic slurs at people at the mosque on multiple occasions.

Glaspell has been ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on November 21^st.

U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña said “Religious freedom is one of our most cherished rights, and that right includes the ability to build places of worship and assemble, free from discrimination.”