Arizona man charged with setting fire to ICE property
An Arizona man has been arrested on federal charges after investigators said he broke a window and set fire to the lobby of an ICE property earlier this year, according to prosecutors.
Gabriel Mendoza-Acoltzi, 19, of Avondale, was taken into custody on May 7 after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of malicious damage to federal property and willful depredation against property of the United States.
The incident happened just after 1 a.m. on February 21 at a property owned by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Surprise, a city northwest of Phoenix. Prosecutors said Mendoza-Acoltzi broke a window and attempted to light the building on fire.
Court documents said a camera near the ICE property captured Mendoza-Acoltzi’s Honda Civic entering the parking lot around midnight. He was seen getting out of the vehicle and placing a propane tank next to the building, according to prosecutors.
Later video showed Mendoza-Acoltzi swinging the propane tank at a window, breaking the glass, and using a long torch connected to the tank to set window shades inside the lobby on fire, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.
Investigators said video also showed Mendoza-Acoltzi moving between the sidewalk and rock landscaping at the property. When they responded to the scene, investigators found a profane anti-ICE message spelled out with landscaping rocks on the sidewalk.
If convicted of malicious damage to federal property, Mendoza-Acoltzi faces five to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and one to three years of supervised release. The FBI, ATF, ICE and the City of Surprise Police and Fire Departments investigated the case.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
