BERKELEY — A jury on Tuesday convicted a 45-year-old man of arson for setting fire to a scroll at a religious study center in Berkeley earlier this year, prosecutors said.
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The incident happened Feb. 6 on Bancroft Way, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said David William Denton used a pocket torch to vandalize and burn a Jewish mezuzah scroll affixed to the doorway of the center. The fire damaged the scroll.
The judge remanded Denton into custody after the verdict was read. Denton faces up to three years in state prison and must register as an arson offender, prosecutors said.
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“Targeting and burning a sacred religious symbol is an act that can cause harm far beyond the physical damage itself,” District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said in a statement.
“People of every faith should be able to practice their religion and gather in their communities without fear of intimidation,” she said.
Denton is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 3 at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.
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