LAS VEGAS (AP) - A man with a history of misdemeanor convictions including arson was arrested on suspicion of starting two fires at a Jewish synagogue in Las Vegas, authorities said Tuesday.
FBI and Las Vegas police officials said both agencies were investigating whether the fires represented an anti-Semitic act of hate.
Afshin Bahrampour, 47, was being held at the Clark County jail pending a court appearance on arson and burglary charges following a car fire late Monday outside the Chabad Jewish Center of Las Vegas and a small trash can fire two hours earlier inside the building. It wasn’t immediately clear he if had a lawyer.
Bahrampour was identified on surveillance video on the property just before both fires, Rabbi Shea Harlig said. Police and fire investigators found Bahrampour in a nearby shopping center while firefighters doused flames from the burning car. Two other vehicles also were damaged, but no injuries were reported.
“The general concern is that he came back twice,” Harlig told The Associated Press. “We have him on video both times.”
Harlig said the damaged vehicles belonged to congregants at a Monday night prayer service.
The car fire appeared to have been intentionally set, Las Vegas fire spokesman Tim Szymanski said, and local and federal investigators were probing the cause of the wastebasket fire that people inside doused without calling firefighters.
Szymanski said prosecutors will determine if the case will be handled as a hate crime.
Sandra Breault, FBI spokeswoman in Las Vegas, said a determination wasn’t immediately made whether Bahrampour will face state or federal charges.
Bahrampour was convicted in 2015 in Las Vegas of obtaining money by false pretenses and sentenced to time served, according to court records.
He pleaded an equivalent of no contest last September to a misdemeanor attempted arson charge. Court records showed he was sentenced to 90 days in the county jail.
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