CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — The man who set fire to an Islamic Center in Cape Girardeau has been sentenced to 191 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $500,000 in restitution, according to United States Department of Justice court documents.
Nicholas Proffitt, 44, pleaded guilty last December to setting fire to the center in April 2020 during the first morning of Ramadan. It was reportedly the third time Proffitt has attacked an Islamic institution.
Security video showed Proffitt breaking the building's glass window and throwing two containers inside. He then entered, poured the contents of two gallon-size containers throughout the foyer and the hallway and lit the blaze, according to court records.
About a dozen people were inside at the time but escaped unharmed. The fire made the building unsuitable for use as a center.
“Attacks on mosques in our country are attacks on people of faith that undermine the fundamental right to practice one’s religion free from fear or violence,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. "The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce federal laws that protect all houses of worship, regardless of denomination.”
The FBI Kansas City Field Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Cape Girardeau Police Department, the Missouri State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Perryville Police Department collaborated on the case.
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