Man Sentenced To 15 Years For Setting Somali Restaurant Ablaze In Hate Crime

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Grand Forks Correctional Center in Grand Forks, N.D., shows Matthew Gust, of East Grand Forks, Minn. Gust said Tuesday, April 19, 2016, that he will plead guilty to star... FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Grand Forks Correctional Center in Grand Forks, N.D., shows Matthew Gust, of East Grand Forks, Minn. Gust said Tuesday, April 19, 2016, that he will plead guilty to starting a fire Dec. 7, 2015, at a Somali restaurant across the North Dakota border in Grand Forks. He is charged with use of a destructive device during a crime of violence and malicious use of an explosive device. He faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. (Grand Forks County Correctional Center via AP, File) MORE LESS
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A man who pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes charges for setting fire to a Somali restaurant in Grand Forks, North Dakota was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison.

Matthew Gust, 26, threw an explosive device made from a beer bottle through the window of the Juba Coffee House in December as an act of retaliation against the town’s Somali community, his lawyer Ted Sandberg explained in a sentencing hearing, according to the Associated Press.

Sandberg argued that Gust was motivated by a past experience being held up at gun point by robbers who he believed were Somali while he was working at a sandwich shop, according to the AP. Sandberg claimed Gust was inspired to act when he learned that Nazi symbols and the words “go home” had been painted on the Juba Coffee House’s exterior (no individual has been charged for that vandalism, and Gust has denied involvement in it).

“After a night of drinking, and a day of ingesting meth, Gust created the Molotov cocktail and decided he would settle the score with the robbers by damaging their national associates’ gathering place,” Sandberg told the judge, according to the AP. “He would burn the Juba Cafe.”

Prosecutors estimated that the fire caused about $250,000 in damages to the café and to neighboring businesses, the AP reported.

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  1. After a night of drinking, and a day of ingesting meth, Gust created the Molotov cocktail and decided he would settle the score.

    Sounds like he should move to Maine, the Little Meth Lab on the Prairie, aka ND, is small potatoes for Mr. Gust.

  2. Avatar for debg debg says:

    Oh man. Somali communities in the Midwest–brings back memories. When I lived in Kansas, the local meat-packing plant brought in a Somali community to work there, and the town was NOT happy. There were actually rumors floating around–with no basis in fact–that Somali men were grabbing women off the streets and raping them in their vans. It was ugly.

    And in fact, the plant was not paying these folks a living wage, so the Somalis got public assistance. In other words, these were jobs that the local population didn’t want, but that didn’t stop them from bitching about the furriners taking their jobs and then raping their women.

  3. Avatar for estamm estamm says:

    He seems nice.

  4. Can’t cure stupid.

    What rational person ever thought “Hey, doing meth is a positive life choice.”

  5. Avatar for ajoguy ajoguy says:

    What a cop-out; blame the alcohol and drugs but not the (white) nature/character of the person.

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