Federal prosecutors are recommending that Cody Seth Crawford, who pleaded no contest to setting fire to a Corvallis mosque near his home in 2010, be sentenced Wednesday to probation at the state hospital due to his mental health issues and the mosque leaders' forgiveness.

The fire at the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center was set about 2 a.m. Nov. 28, 2010, within hours of news reports that the FBI had foiled a plot to set off a bomb during Portland's Christmas Tree lighting and arrested now-convicted terrorist Mohamed Mohamud.

Mohamud was known to occasionally worship at the Corvallis mosque. FBI agents found incriminating postings Crawford made on his Facebook page shortly before the blaze. He wrote, "that guy on the news used to go to the mosque near my house,'' and at 12:06 a.m. Nov. 28, 2010, he posted, "I ha te [sic] the ji-had'st, [sic] they should go and realize what life is about!!! This guy on the news was a really bad guy !!! He went to the mosque right in front of my house here in Corvali [sic]..."

While the maximum sentence is 20 years in prison for the hate crime of damaging religious property simply because of the religion of those who worship inside, federal prosecutors will ask the court to sentence Crawford to five years of probation because they believe it is in the "best interests of everyone involved,'' according to a court filing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William "Bud'' Fitzgerald and U.S. Department of Justice civil rights trial attorney Fara Gold cited "unique factors'' in this case to support their request for a non-prison sentence, according to their sentencing memo.

"The government does not make this recommendation lightly but does so with great consideration for the defendant's significant mental health issues and great deference to the leaders of the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center,'' the federal prosecutors wrote in the memo. "It is the wish of the leaders of the mosque to move on from this incident that occurred more than five years ago.''

Crawford, 29, who suffers from bipolar disorder and Asperger's Syndrome, is set to be sentenced at 10 a.m. Wednesday in federal court in Eugene.

He has been involuntarily held at the Oregon State Hospital for 20 months, since pleading guilty except for insanity to an unrelated weapons charge involving the use of a slingshot in a Polk County Circuit Court case.

Prosecutors recommend that Crawford remain under the authority of Oregon State Hospital until he's no longer deemed a threat to others. They are asking for additional conditions, including that he receive follow-up mental health and alcohol treatment if released from the hospital, stay more than 500 feet away from the mosque, not use any alcohol or non-prescribed intoxicants, not possess firearms or other weapons and not live anywhere where firearms are accessible.

"Although the aftermath of the arson saw local religions stand in support of the mosque in an effort to help it heal and rebuild, the arson represented a time of intolerance from which the Islamic community has since recovered and offered forgiveness,'' the federal prosecutors wrote.

The sentencing memo explains how investigators identified Crawford as the arsonist.

They believed a person shattered a window at the mosque, dumped flammable liquid inside and ignited the liquid, causing about $50,000 worth of damage. Police found a flashlight on the ground near the broken window.

They interviewed people who lived near the mosque. Crawford initially denied knowing about the fire, but said his flashlight had been stolen from his front porch. Investigators returned to Crawford's home a few hours later and showed him a photo of the flashlight found at the scene and Crawford said his looked like the one in the picture, the sentencing memo says. A DNA match later confirmed the flashlight belonged to Crawford.

When asked why he thought someone might try to burn down the mosque, Crawford said, "Because they don't like Muslims,'' the memo says.

The next day, police searched Crawford's home with a search warrant. In the garage, they found items used "to make the ignition device'' in the arson, and they seized Crawford's laptop and found his Facebook postings.

At 3:39 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2010, after the FBI first visited Crawford's home, he posted "crazy how things happen so close to home,'' the memo said.

Less than a month later, Crawford was arrested for causing a disturbance at a Blockbuster video store and 76 gas station in Yamhill County. A video store employee saw him harassing customers who were getting gas, shining a flashlight at people in their cars, talking about "terrorists and Muslims,'' and stating that the FBI and CIA did not know he existed. McMinnville police arrested him at the store, and Crawford announced he was a Christian warrior and, "You will never know the truth about the mosque.''

Mohamud, who prayed at the mosque while he was enrolled at Oregon State University, was in a Portland jail at the time of the arson. He was arrested Nov. 26, 2010, and charged with attempting to detonate what he thought was a massive fertilizer bomb during the annual tree lighting ceremony in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

The bomb, a fake rigged by the FBI, was presented to Mohamud by undercover agents posing as al-Qaida terrorists. Mohamud mounted an entrapment defense, but was found guilty after a three-week trial in 2013. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Oct. 1, 2014. His lawyers appealed the sentence, which is before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian