Worshippers forgive man, but he’s going to jail
The worshippers at a Perry Township mosque that was desecrated nine months ago didn’t seek punishment Monday for the man who scrawled anti-Muslim comments on the building.
The leaders of the Ahlul Bayt Islamic Center submitted a written statement of forgiveness to be read aloud at the sentencing hearing for Todd M. Williams, 45, of the Far West Side. He pleaded guilty in September to one count of desecrating a place of worship, a fifth-degree felony, and misdemeanor charges of ethnic intimidation and criminal mischief.
“The essence of God in Islam is based on mercy,” said the congregation’s statement, read by Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Gibson. “The Quran repeatedly emphasizes the merciful nature of God.
“Showing mercy to others is what we are expected to do. Therefore, we are not seeking vengeance or punishment against the person who did this to our mosque.”
Williams responded with words of contrition for the congregation members, none of whom attended the hearing.
“I want to thank them for being merciful and for forgiveness,” he said. “I want them to know I’m truly sorry. I’m glad they took a high road.”
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Chris Brown told Williams “I think they treated you a lot better than you treated them.”
“Yes, I agree,” Williams responded.
The judge wasn’t as forgiving as the congregation. He ordered Williams to spend 10 days in the county jail, beginning Dec. 4, and placed him on probation for five years.
“Jail is appropriate in this case,” Brown said. “All these people wanted to do is worship ... according to their beliefs, and you infringed on that. ... You made them scared. ... You took something away. You took their security away, their freedom to worship as they see fit.”
Surveillance video captured images of Williams using a marker Feb. 11 to write on the glass doors of the mosque at 2580 W. DublinGranville Road. He wrote, “Allah Is A Fraud Dum Dum” and “Repent Turn To The True God + Jesus or Burn 4Ever.”
Defense attorney Bradley Koffel said Williams, who had no criminal record, is on disability due to “deep mental-health issues that appear to be in check now.”
Brown placed him in the probation department’s intensive, mental-health caseload and ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service. Any violation of probation could result in a 12-month prison sentence, the judge said.
Williams remained contrite after the hearing.
“We’re all human,” he said. “I was just having a bad day. I made a terrible mistake, and I’m truly, truly sorry. I want the Islam community to feel safe. I owe them a hug.”
Reminded that the terms of his probation forbid him from visiting the mosque, he replied, “Maybe five years down the road, then.”
The two Columbus police officers who wounded the so-called Buckeye Bandit, ending his suspected string of 26 bank robberies, acted within division policy when they shot him, an internal investigation has found.
During an Oct. 21, 2016, robbery of a KeyBank on Frantz Road, a teller slipped a tracking device in the bundle of more than $53,000 she handed bandit Ikechi W. Emeaghara. Lt. Eric David and Sgt. James Sheehan tracked Emeaghara and cornered his sport utility vehicle in a parking lot.
When he got out of the vehicle, he pointed what appeared to be a black handgun at the officers, who shot him five times. The shooting was reviewed by the division’s Firearms/Police-Involved Death Review Board, police said Monday.
Emeaghara, 28, who court records said was actually wielding a BB gun, survived his wounds and was sentenced in June to 20 years in prison in federal court.
The FBI had named him the “Buckeye Bandit,” because he wore Ohio State University athletic gear when he robbed the banks between 2013 and 2016.
He pleaded guilty to robbing eight banks, during which he threatened employees with warnings such as, “You have 30 seconds before I start shooting” or by cocking the gun when they couldn’t open the vault.
U.S. District Judge James L. Graham noted Emeaghara’s positive background — a pastor’s son, 3.3 grade-pointaverage student at Westerville North High School, a computer engineering student and football player at the University of Findlay, and father of a 7-year-old boy. But his threats revealed “he has another personality that was not reflected until this serious crime,” Graham said.
Prosecutors said bank employees, who didn’t know the weapon was a BB gun, told of suffering from nightmares and paranoia.
The defense said Emeaghara began robbing banks after he lost his job. Prosecutors said he was a gambling addict who turned to bank robbing to pay his debts.