Charles Dwight Stout, III,
20, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District
Court to conspiracy to damage religious property and to causing damage to
religious property because of its religious character, announced U.S. Attorney
Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Stout was indicted in September 2017 along with Thomas
Gibbs, 18, also of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and charged with conspiring to
commit a civil rights violation and committing a civil rights violation through
damaging and defacing the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.
According to the plea agreement, Stout admitted that on July
10, 2017, he conspired to vandalize the Islamic Center by placing bacon, a pork
product forbidden by Islam, around an entrance; and spray painted profane
references to Allah on multiple parts of the Center’s exterior; and concealed
his identity in the commitment of these crimes by wearing a Soviet World War
II-era gas mask.
Stout was previously indicted on August 30, 2017, for
obstructing a federal investigation by deleting photographic evidence. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the
government will dismiss the obstruction charge and Stout agrees to a sentence
of one year supervised release and the payment of restitution in an amount
determined by the court when he is sentenced on August 13, 2018.
Charges against Thomas Gibbs are still pending and he is
presumed innocent until proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the FBI and the Rutherford
County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Sara Beth Myers and
Henry C. Leventis are prosecuting the case.
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