U.S.
Brevard County Jail
A man accused of vandalizing a mosque along Florida's Space Coast — with lights and windows smashed by a machete and bacon left at the scene — has been arrested.
Officers in the city of Titusville say the man, Michael Scott Wolfe, 35, was taken into custody Monday. Online jail records show he is charged with criminal mischief of a religious building.
Authorities say the suspect went to the Islamic Society of Central Florida's Masjid al-Mumin on Jan. 1, and surveillance video shows him entering the mosque's carport late at night with no one else around and using a machete to smash cameras, lights and windows.
Police say the bacon was left on and around the mosque's front door. Consumption of pork and products made from pork is forbidden in Islam.
Wolfe remains behind bars. It isn't clear if he has an attorney.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, anti-Muslim sentiment has spiked in the U.S. since the Paris attacks in November and after a San Bernardino, California, couple shot and killed 14 people at an office party in December.
Wire services
Since San Bernardino attacks, there have been several reports of threats, violence against religious minority
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French Council for the Muslim Religion says country has seen as many anti-Muslim acts in January as in all of 2014
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