A mother’s fear led to the arrest of a man accused of setting fire to a Jewish center

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) — A man accused of arson at a Chabad Jewish Center in southwest Florida last week has been arrested after his mother told a relative she feared he set the fire, prosecutors said Thursday.

Blake Hoover faces a federal arson charge in the fire at the Chabad Jewish Center in Punta Gorda late Friday, a few days before the Jewish New Year, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office. The center has a Hebrew school and a community synagogue.

Hoover’s aunt contacted the Punta Gorda Police Department after Hoover’s mother told her that she feared he was responsible for the arson at the synagogue. The mother later told investigators that Hoover hated Jews and gay people and that his hatred had become worse in recent years, according to the criminal complaint.

Hoover had recently told his mother that he was going to burn down the Jewish center, a former library, after discovering what it was being used for now. On the night of the arson, the mother called Hoover and asked him not to burn anything down after she discovered a gas can missing when he left the house, the criminal complaint said.

Fire investigators believe Hoover entered the center by breaking a back window and set fire to flammable items inside using gasoline. Investigators also found the letter “J” spray-painted on the sidewalk outside the center and on a concrete wall on the building’s side, according to a criminal complaint.

The mother “noted that Hoover always talks about Jews as ‘Js,’” the complaint said.

Investigators found a gas can and a black spray-paint can after executing a search warrant on their home, according to authorities.

Court records listed no attorney for Hoover, and an online database showed he remained in jail Thursday morning.