PACIFIC GROVE MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FIREBOMB ATTACKS
The Monterey County Herald
Herald Staff Reports Updated: 02/04/2010 09:17:37 AM PST
A Pacific Grove man Wednesday pleaded guilty to two counts of arson, Monterey County prosecutors said.
Nathan Augustine, 28, was accused of firebombing Creative Visions tattoo parlor in Monterey and Lattitudes Restaurant in Pacific Grove with Molotov cocktails in July.
Prosecutors said Augustine targeted the tattoo parlor because employees refused to give him a tattoo of a swastika and of President Barack Obama overlaid with crosshairs, and the restaurant because a black assistant manager turned him down for a job.
The vodka bottles used to make the Molotov cocktails each had the words “Russian Standard” written on them in red ink, a swastika and a symbol similar to a British Union Jack with diagonal lines, prosecutors said.
Police officers found lighter fluid, gloves and the symbol in Augustine’s home, prosecutors said.
Augustine, who is to be sentenced March 12, faces up to seven years in prison.
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