The man accused of setting fire to a Marietta mosque was sentenced to 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty to the crime.
Tamsir Lucien Mendy, a native of Gambia, was 26 in July 2010 when he was arrested and charged with arson in a blaze that did an estimated $100,000 worth of damage to the Islamic Center of Marietta, according to Scott Tucker, assistant fire chief for the Marietta Fire Department.
Investigators initially thought the arson was a hate crime before identifying Mendy as a suspect.
Mendy had worshiped at the mosque only a few weeks at the time of fire, the mosque's leader has said. Investigators believe Mendy had been upset with a split in two congregations, a move prompted by a land disagreement.
"He felt like they couldn't worship properly together split and upset with each other and this was his way, of burning one mosque to bring the two mosques together," Tucker said at a previous court hearing.
Last week, a judge sentenced Mendy to 20 years in prison, 10 of which he will serve behind bars. Mendy is currently housed at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, according to the state Department of Corrections.
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