Man charged with lighting San Bernardino mosque fire

A 23-year-old man was booked Saturday on arson and hate-crime charges in connection with a fire that burned through part of a Southern California mosque just before a prayer service on Friday.

The suspect, Carl James Dial, was arrested just before 9 p.m. on Friday and booked Saturday on five felony charges related to the smoky blaze at the Islamic Society of Coachella Valley, according to online booking records of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. He remained in custody on Saturday at the county jail in Indio, according to the records. It was not known if Dial had retained a lawyer. His next court appearance was set for Wednesday.

Dial’s arrest was first reported by The Los Angeles Times.

Congregants at the Coachella mosque had started arriving for 1 p.m. prayers Friday when they heard a “loud boom” shortly after noon, Reymundo Nour, the mosque’s acting imam, said.

Soon, the front of the mosque erupted into flames. More than a dozen firefighters arrived within minutes and contained the fire to the lobby, although there was smoke damage throughout the building, officials said. No one was injured.

Congregants reported what sounded like a “fire bomb,” said Nour, who was not present at the time but heard from several people who had been there.

The Sheriff’s Department said Friday that it believed the fire had been deliberately set and that federal investigators were participating in the investigation.

Ashley Southall contributed reporting from New York.

This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 1:11 PM with the headline "Man charged with lighting San Bernardino mosque fire."