By Jon Burstein Staff Writer Posted December 1 2002
A construction company owner has been charged with a misdemeanor hate crime after two Boca Raton police officers said they watched him set fire to a sign announcing the new site of a mosque.
George Aboujawdeh, 45, is the first person in Palm Beach County to be prosecuted for a hate crime directed at Muslims since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, said Michael Edmondson, a spokesman for the State Attorney's Office.
An FBI annual survey released earlier this week showed that hate crimes nationwide against people of Middle Eastern descent, Muslims and South Asian Sikhs have jumped up from 28 in 2000 to 481 last year.
Aboujawdeh, a Catholic who was born and raised in Lebanon, told police that he set the sign on fire because he wanted to send Muslims a message that "they're not liked here," according to police reports.
The State Attorney's Office decided Nov. 19 to charge him with a single count of criminal mischief causing less than $200 damage. The charge typically carries a maximum six-month jail sentence, but because it was classified as a hate crime, Aboujawdeh now could face up to a year behind bars.
Boca Raton police arrested Aboujawdeh on Sept. 4 while they staked out the 4-by-8 foot sign on a vacant lot at 1501 NW Fourth Ave. The sign announced that the site would be the future home of the Assalam Center and had an artist's rendering of what the new mosque will look like.
Police had been watching the sign for six weeks prior after it was hacked with an ax and twice set on fire. They said they watched as Aboujawdeh doused the sign with lighter fluid and run as it went up in flames, according to police reports.
Officers ordered Aboujawdeh to stop and handcuffed him. He had a book of matches in his hand, and a plastic bottle containing lighter fluid was found near him, according to police reports.
When he was brought to the Boca Raton police station, Aboujawdeh admitted he intentionally set the fire because he didn't want the mosque to be built, police said. Aboujawdeh, owner of ARZ Builders, lives about two miles from the site.
Boca Raton police spokesman Jeff Kelly said the case against Aboujawdeh is closed and he hasn't been linked to the previous acts of vandalism to the sign.
Bert Winkler, Aboujawdeh's attorney, said whatever happened that night was an isolated incident.
"Mr. Aboujawdeh is an upstanding citizen in the community," Winkler said. "He's a family man. He's a hard worker. We are working to resolve this (case) fairly for all parties involved."