Anti-Islam Pastor Terry Jones is once again in trouble with the law. In an act that goes beyond basic stupidity, Jones and an accomplice were both arrested Wednesday on felony charges while transporting almost 3,000 kerosene-soaked Qur’ans to an event in Polk County, Florida.
Jones and Associate Pastor Marvin Sapp Jr. were stopped while driving a pickup truck that was towing a very large barbecue-style grill filled with 2,998 kerosene-soaked Qur’ans. The two had been spotted at a nearby McDonald’s parking lot dousing the holy books in the truck and the grill with kerosene. The manager at the McDonald’s had asked them to leave. Once Jones had doused the books with the flammable liquid he had technically removed the fuel from a legal container and placed it into an illegal container. Each man was arrested on a felony charge of unlawful conveyance of fuel. Jones is also facing a misdemeanor charge of unlawful open-carry of a firearm.
According to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd:
“He was potentially driving a bomb down the road had there been a crash.”
Jones had planned to burn the Qu’rans as part of a protest statement in Loyce Harp Park in the community of Mulberry, Florida. Jones’ group, Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, had announced plans for the event in April of this year on his website Stand Up America, but didn’t bother to get a permit until last week. Officials turned down the request for the permit because Jones hadn’t allowed enough time to process the request.
Sheriff Judd stated:
“He then told our detectives that he was going to come to the park without a permit and that he was going to burn the Qurans on the park property. We explained clearly to him that that was a violation of law. […]We clearly told him, if you come to Polk County and violate the law, you will go to jail and that’s the way it is.”
Both men paid a $1,250 bail and were released Thursday morning.
Jones first gained national attention in 2010 when he announced his intent to burn a Qu’ran during a protest. That event was called off after he received death threats and “a message from God.” After previously stating that he would never actually burn the Muslim holy book, his congregation did just that in March 2011. In 2012, he promoted a notorious anti-Muslim film called Innocence of Muslims. All three events sparked outrage and violence in the Middle East and Afghanistan. The most violent of these responses occurred in 2011 when hundreds of protesters stormed a U.N. compound in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. That incident left 7 dead, including two who were beheaded.
Military officials have asked repeatedly that Jones stop his protests out of regard for safety of American and Western troops serving abroad. Jones has ignored all of these requests.
Last year, an Egyptian Court convicted Jones, as well as seven Egyptian Coptic Christians, in absentia on charges linked to the anti-Muslim film he promoted.? Each defendant was sentenced to death, although none of them reside in Egypt.
The residents of Mulberry, and surrounding Polk County, celebrate a widely recognized event called Unity Day. The event centers on interfaith worship and spirituality in an effort to bring about understanding and appreciation through education of different faiths. That may be exactly why the anti-Muslim, pro-war fanatic Jones chose to stage his event in the same community.
NOTE: The biography from Terry Jones’ website incorrectly states his name with the title ‘Doctor.’ Jones completed high school and attended 2 years of college, but has no academic degrees of any kind. He did receive an honorary degree in theology from an unaccredited graduate school in 1983, but that school has since tried to disassociate with Terry Jones completely.
Image courtesy of Stand Up America
Edited by: SB
