A plea deal filed Wednesday for an East Grand Forks man accused of setting fire to a Somali restaurant in Grand Forks sheds some light on the reasoning behind a new charge he faces.
A federal court hearing is scheduled in May for Matthew William Gust, 25, to plead guilty on two charges: malicious use of explosive materials and interference with a federally protected activity.
The deal states Gust started the Dec. 8 fire at Juba Coffee House and Restaurant at 2017 S. Washington St. with a Molotov cocktail fashioned from a 40-ounce beer bottle he filled with gasoline and inserted a cloth wick into. He then punched a hole through Juba’s front window with his fist, lit the bottle, threw it inside and fled, creating an explosion that “engulfed Juba” and caused at least $90,000 in damage. Neighboring property was also damaged.
Gust would be sentenced to 15 years in prison and pay restitution through the deal, although a final amount has not been determined, Gust’s attorney, Theodore Sandberg, said.
Altogether, the prosecution will recommend at sentencing 15 years in prison for the malicious use charge, 10 years for the interference charge, to be served at the same time, and three years of supervised release, according to the plea deal.
There is no parole in the federal prison system, but Gust could qualify for a limited number of days credit for good behavior.
If the plea deal is followed and accepted by a judge, it will dismiss a charge of use of a destructive device during a crime of violence and instead Gust will plead guilty to the interference charge.
The interference charge comes from a federal criminal civil rights law that states a person cannot injure, intimidate or interfere with a person because of national origin and because that person enjoys goods, services or facilities of any establishment which provides food, beverages, or entertainment to patrons, according to the FBI.
The plea deal notes that Gust, “through force and threat of force, willfully intimidated and interfered with” the employees and customers of Juba “because of their national origin, Somali.”
The deal also states “Gust was aware that many of the employees and customers of Juba Cafe were Somali,” and he was also aware that on Dec. 3 or 4 someone had painted Nazi symbols and written “go home” in spray paint on the front window of Juba.
But Sandberg said Gust did not paint the graffiti. And the investigations into the graffiti and fire at Juba “are, and have always been, separate,” Grand Forks Police Lt. Derik Zimmel said.
However, “the first incident caught the interest of the person of the second incident,” the second being the Juba fire, Sandberg said.
The deal also states Gust destroyed a building used in interstate commerce, since Juba “purchased many of its food supplies from Minnesota” and some of Juba’s customers also traveled from Minnesota to eat at the restaurant.
Gust will next appear in Fargo federal court to change his plea 1:30 p.m. May 19
Source: jamestownsun
