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Guilty plea in arson that destroyed mosque in Joplin

courtJOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A Joplin man has pleaded guilty to setting a fire that destroyed a mosque and attempting to burn down a Planned Parenthood clinic.

The Kansas City Star reports that 32-year-old Jedediah Stout pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Springfield.

The building for the Islamic Society of Joplin burned in August 2012. That fire came about a month after an unsuccessful attempt to burn the building.

Stout confessed to setting fire to the mosque after he was arrested in 2013 for twice trying to burn down the Planned Parenthood clinic in Joplin. Prosecutors said he threw a backpack containing flammable liquid onto the clinic’s roof and lighted a rope attached as a fuse. The clinic doesn’t provide abortions.

He will be sentenced after a pre-sentence investigation is completed.

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