Man sentenced to 6 months in jail for burglary, vandalism of St. Cloud Mosque

Kilat Fitzgerald KSTP

Surveillance footage shows to people breaking into a St. Cloud mosque (KSTP).

A man who pleaded guilty to burglarizing a St. Cloud mosque was sentenced to six months in jail Monday morning.

Logan Smith, 24, from Rogers, will serve 180 days in the Stearns County Jail, followed by 10 years of supervised probation. He faced a maximum penalty of 33 months in prison, according to a plea deal shown in Stearns County court documents.

Smith was initially facing a maximum sentence of 10 years after surveillance footage showed him breaking into and vandalizing the mosque. Victoria Catalina Veliz, 26, from New Hope, is also accused of participating in the crime.

Investigators learned that the two had damaged a door to get into the mosque, then caused more damage inside and ransacked an office before fleeing.

Police say the suspects also left behind a hotel room key at the mosque which led officers to make the arrests.

Court documents state that police then found multiple Qurans and other items from the mosque inside the hotel room.

The case against Veliz is still pending.