Teen charged in mosque vandalism

A 14-year-old boy was recently charged with criminal damage to the Portales Islamic Center, District Attorney Quentin Ray said last week. The boy told authorities he participated in only a small portion of the vandalism done to the building.

Mosque Director Ahmed Benssouda has said the mosque was vandalized five separate times in June but that no more damage has occurred since the end of June.

Benssouda said police have told him more than one youth was involved in the destruction, but others have not yet been detained. He said police told him they have names of at least two other suspects but have been unable to locate them.

Portales police incident reports show the youth charged with criminal damage and criminal trespass told authorities he did not know the building was a worship center and “felt very bad about it.”

The boy told police he thought the building was “an abandoned house that nobody had lived in.”

He said he only participated in the vandalism from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on June 29 after he and two friends walked to the building from Rotary Park. He said the back door had already been busted open and there were holes in the wall, with broken glass and other damage, including spray-painted walls.

He confessed to putting “a little bit of spray paint on the wall,” but said he did not know who was responsible for the previous damage. Asked why he spray painted an expletive on the wall, he said it was “due to his father … just getting incarcerated into prison,” the police report shows.

When police asked why the boy and his friends went to the Islamic Center, he told them “because they were bored.”

The boy’s mother reported her son’s involvement in the vandalism and told police her son has “mental issues and has been trying to get help for it.”

Ray said the teen, who is not in police custody, faces up to two years commitment into Children Youth and Families Department custody if convicted. Police initially recommended charges include desecration of a religious center, but Ray said that charge was not filed since the boy did not seem to know the building was a mosque.

Benssouda said last week that the damage in June was so extensive that the clean-up process is still ongoing and will be for some time.

“So we’re working on it. It’s a process, and we’re working on it,” he said.

Portales-area worshipers are still meeting in Clovis because of the damage to the Portales building, including walls, lights, electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, carpets, and the kitchen area.

“I mean, they didn’t leave anything (untouched),” Bennsouda said.

He said he believes the vandalism came from the same people multiple times, though the boy charged confessed only to the damage from June 29. Bennsouda said he’s talked to a family member of a suspect and also with law officers.

“They came back twice after (publicity from the damage) went viral until the PD started doing a closed patrol as well as I took my watchdogs,” he said.

The 14-year-old is only charged with criminal damage under $1,000, records show.

Bennsouda said there was at least $40,000 in damage over the multiple incidents. He said a lot of the money for the repairs comes from his own pocket.

LaunchGood, a crowdfunding organization focusing on the Muslim community worldwide, has donated funds for the repairs. Other organizations have also contributed, including the local chapter of the Democratic Party, Bennsouda said.

Bennsouda said he has painted over the hate speech so that no one has to look at those words when entering the building.

“The first thing I did was cover it because the words … they were very vulgar. My kids, I take them with me sometimes to help, but I don’t want them to look at those words because they grow in the brain,” he said.

Bennsouda hopes to have repairs done by next year and before the holy month of Ramadan in April.