Donny Eugene Mower, Arson and Vandalism, California 2011

Grimy Times Exclusive

A 38-year-old Madera man has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a string of hate-fueled attacks targeting a Planned Parenthood clinic and a mosque in Madera, California.

Donny Eugene Mower, 38, of Madera, California, was sentenced in federal court on October 2011 following his guilty pleas to one count of arson, one count of damaging religious property, and one count of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

The charges stem from Mower’s lighting a fire inside a Planned Parenthood clinic and throwing a brick at a mosque in Madera on September 2, 2010 and August 20, 2010, respectively.

Mower was sentenced by Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Mower was also ordered to pay $26,000 in restitution.

According to court documents, Mower constructed a Molotov cocktail by stuffing a fuel-soaked cloth into a beer bottle and then drove to the Madera Planned Parenthood Clinic, where he lit the device and threw it through a ground-floor window. The ensuing fire damaged the clinic and forced it to close for two days.

The FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Madera Police Department, and Madera County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elana Landau for the Eastern District of California and Trial Attorney Chiraag Bains from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez said, “This sentence sends a powerful message that the Justice Department will not tolerate violent interference with the lawful work of reproductive health clinics or attacks on places of worship of all faiths.”

U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner added, “Those who resort to threats and violence to intimidate others in the free exercise of their rights will attract the full force of federal law enforcement.”

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