Five charged with disrupting Muslim prayer service

Members of a small rural mosque in Orleans County say they have been harassed on a number of occasions over the years.

But encounters Friday and Monday with a group of area teenagers reached a new level of hostility.

Car horns were honked and obscenities yelled as Muslims tried to pray in the mosque, a converted farmhouse on Fuller Road in the Town of Carlton.

One of the teens also was accused of firing a shotgun outside the gathering.

"This was not an act of pranksters. This was an aggressive act of hatred by certain people," said Bilal Huzair, a member of the World Sufi Foundation Mosque.

Orleans County sheriff's deputies charged teens from Holley with disrupting a religious service, a misdemeanor, in connection with the Monday incident, which occurred sometime between 10:30 and 11 p.m.

Charged were: Mark Vendetti and Tim Weader, both 17, and Dylan Phillips, Jeff Donahue and Anthony Ogden, all 18.

Vendetti was accused of firing the shotgun near the mosque during a prayer service Friday. He also was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, landing him in Orleans County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Deputies said that the incidents remained under investigation and that more charges were pending.

Huzair and other members say they hope law enforcement starts taking their complaints more seriously.

The congregation of about 100 Muslims has reported thefts, vandalism and other incidents in the past.

"We've had our share of problems," Huzair said, mentioning Halloween and the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as typical triggers for harassment.

"Usually, it's young men that are involved in these incidents, and for whatever reason authorities seem intent on brushing it off as juvenile behavior," said Jacob Zimmerman, another longtime member.

The mosque has been around since 1974.

About 50 people were at Monday's prayer service, said Huzair.

Muslims are in the midst of Ramadan, a holy month marked by fasting from sunrise to sunset, usually followed by gatherings with friends and family.

Zimmerman said that a group has been showing up regularly outside the mosque for three weeks to harass the congregation.

In the past, the mosque's fence has been burned and rammed into by a vehicle. The lawn has been damaged by drivers doing "doughnuts," and rugs and artifacts have been stolen from the structure, Huzair said.

"But nothing to the point where they started brandishing weapons and firing at us," he said.

jtokasz@buffnews.comnull