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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck who wrote (18556)	9/12/2002 9:20:52 PM
From: lorne	Respond to of 27666

Can they do that? is it in the quran? Owner of Alpine Motel Arrested Not only was the July fire that damaged a Muslim-owned motel in Heber City not a hate crime, the owner set it, investigators said Wednesday. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Not only was the July fire that damaged a Muslim-owned motel in Heber City not a hate crime, the owner set it, investigators said Wednesday. Police on Wednesday morning arrested Alpine Lodge co-owner Mazhar Tabesh, 39, on suspicion of aggravated arson. Tabesh was held at Wasatch County Jail, but by Wednesday afternoon had been released on $10,000 bail, said Heber City Police Sgt. Jason Bradley. Investigators never doubted it was arson, Bradley said, because a chemical accelerant obviously had been poured. "You could smell it when you arrived," Bradley said. "The determination of who actually was responsible was very difficult." Tabesh claimed the July 21 fire was a hate crime. "We are really scared because we are Muslim _ probably the only Muslims in area _ and we are the target," Tabesh said at the time. "We really fear for our safety and so far I haven't seen anyone offering any help." Heber City is 29 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Tabesh claimed the blaze started in a room rented by a man who paid cash, showed no identification and was seen leaving with another man just after the fire started. He said he gave the registration papers to police, but the name was scrawled and hard to read. He also claimed to have been receiving threatening calls that increased after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The blaze caused an estimated $100,000 to the motel. The area that burned was directly above the family's living area. The FBI sent an agent who specializes in civil-rights cases to investigate. "The hate-crime aspect was something we looked at all along," Bradley said. But Tabesh's alibi didn't check out, and investigators turned up a large amount of forensic evidence pointing to Tabesh, Bradley said. The arrest was made after almost two months of joint investigation by the Heber City Police, Wasatch County Fire Marshal, the state fire marshal and the FBI. He is not likely to be charged formally this week because district judges are away at a judicial conference, said a spokeswoman for the Wasatch County Attorney's office. As to motive, the motel had been on the market for a while and Tabesh had more than once said he "wanted out from under it," Bradley said. Shortly after being released from jail, Tabesh told KSL radio that being arrested was "unexpected and terrifying." "To me, this is not right and they really shouldn't be doing this, but we'll deal with it," Tabesh said. The motel is owned by Tabesh and his father-in-law. A woman who answered the phone Wednesday said the lodge was closed but declined to speak further. Some Farmington residents organized a benefit for Tabesh in Heber City a couple of weeks ago. Bradley said police tried to dissuade them but couldn't tell them why because the investigation wasn't complete. Bradley acknowledged the oddity of filing the charges on what investigators say was a false claim of anti-Muslim hatred on Wednesday, the anniversary of the East Coast terror attacks. "It's come up. But really, the day chose us. It was the day the case came to a head," Bradley said. "The work of the nation, the work of our city has to go on. It's just what happened." ksl.com