PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A man already charged with setting a Northeast Philadelphia mosque on fire last month now faces a civil rights charge in connection with the alleged arson.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is charging 60-year-old Vincent Lang with two more crimes in addition to his arson charge, including damaging religious property.
The new indictment alleges that Lang targeted the Northeast Philadelphia Islamic Center on Tyson Avenue because it was a mosque.
Lang was arrested in connection with the fire on July 16 and charged with arson. The fire was set at the mosque around 2 a.m. on July 5. The Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released surveillance footage from that morning showing a masked man in all black clothing throw an incendiary device through the mosque’s entryway before fleeing.
CAIR offered a $2,500 reward for any information leading to an arrest.
In the weeks since, a GoFundMe has raised more than $26,000 to help the mosque with repairs.
Lang faces up to 40 years in prison if he’s found guilty.
