Man Charged With Hate Crime In Orange County Mosque Vandalism

SANTA ANA, CA — A Santa Ana man was charged with felony vandalism and accused of a hate crime in connection with the defacement of a Westminster mosque, prosecutors said Friday.

Ernesto Martinez, 40, faces several felony vandalism charges, including vandalism of $400 or more and vandalism of a place of worship with the purpose of intimidation, as well as a misdemeanor charge of violation of civil rights through property damage, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said. Prosecutors also included a felony hate crime enhancement to the charges against Martinez.

If convicted of all charges, Martinez faces a maximum of six years in prison, according to Kimberly Edds, public information officer for the district attorney's office.

Martinez was held without bail at the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange. He has a court hearing scheduled for Tuesday, according to jail records from the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

The charges stem from an incident Wednesday at the Al Noor Foundation Mosque in Westminster, Edds said.

A mosque employee spotted a man attempting to break one of the building's windows using a paint can, Edds said. The man also struck the mosque's front door with the paint can and threw paint onto one of its windows.

Edds said an officer from the Westminster Police Department later stopped a man near the mosque with paint on his clothes and hands.

The man told the officer that the "mosque's god had disrespected his god," she said. The man was taken into custody and identified as Martinez.

The incident at the mosque happened before the start of Ramadan, during which Muslim people around the world dedicate a month to fasting, prayer and reflection.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said Ramadan celebrations should proceed "uninterrupted and without the fear of someone trying to deface a house of worship."

"No one has the right to take that serenity from another person, and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office will do everything we can to hold haters accountable and protect the rights of everyone to worship in peace," Spitzer said.