In what’s becoming a disturbingly common story, an unstable anti-Muslim bigot was arrested today in Oregon on charges of firebombing a mosque last November: Man accused of hate crime in Corvallis mosque arson.

Cody Seth CrawfordCORVALLIS — Federal law enforcement authorities arrested Cody Seth Crawford, 24, Wednesday night on a federal hate crimes indictment in what they say was a racially motivated arson at a Corvallis mosque.

The arrest comes eight months after the Nov. 28 firebombing of the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center at 610 N.W. Kings Boulevard in Corvallis. Authorities quickly determined the fire, which burned the office of the mosque, was an arson. …

According to federal search warrant documents filed in U.S. District Court, Crawford was identified as a “potential major contributor of the DNA” found on a blue Maglite flashlight discovered the morning of the firebombing on a walkway to the mosque.

Federal investigators also located a plastic 2-liter strawberry Fanta soda bottle near a broken window of the mosque. Lab tests showed the bottle contained gasoline and a mineral oil, according to a federal search warrant affidavit filed March 14 in U.S. District Court. Residues of gasoline and residues consistent with mineral oil were found in the burned office of the mosque.

The search warrant affidavit also indicated that Crawford, during two subsequent and unrelated contacts in December with McMinnville police and Corvallis officers, had ranted about Muslims, accused an officer of being a Muslim and looking like Obama, and described himself as a Christian warrior. He claimed his wife was Muslim and had taken his son.

“You look like Obama. You are a Muslim like him. Jihad goes both ways. Christians can jihad too,” he told a McMinnville officer when taken to the Willamette Valley Medical Center on Dec. 14 following a harassment arrest.

A witness at a McMinnville gas station told police Crawford was shining his flashlight at security cameras and talking about terrorists and Muslims.

On Dec. 16, after a witness said they saw Crawford waving a knife in front of his apartment, Corvallis police responded and took Crawford to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis for a mental evaluation. During interviews with Corvallis detectives, Crawford lashed out against “jihadists.” He was placed on a mental health hold.