Man sentenced to 6 years in prison for Coachella Valley mosque arson
Law enforcement officials investigate the scene of an arson at the Islamic Society of the Coachella Valley. The man convicted of setting the fire was sentenced to six years in prison on Monday.
A 23-year-old man convicted of setting a mosque on fire in Coachella Valley was sentenced to six years in state prison, prosecutors said.
Carl Dial pleaded guilty in January to arson and sentence-enhancing allegations of perpetrating a hate crime and committing arson using an accelerant device in a plea agreement with the Riverside County district attorney’s office.
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Dial, of Palm Desert, was sentenced by Riverside County Superior Court Judge James Hawkins in Indio on Monday.
Dial was arrested Dec. 11 after a fire at the Islamic Society of the Coachella Valley damaged the front lobby of the building. No one was injured in the blaze.
The fire was set nine days after Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people and injured 22 others in a mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.
It was one of several incidents that officials investigated as possible backlashes from the terrorist attack.
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