Mosque in Eagan Reports $200 Missing from Safe

A Minneapolis man was charged with breaking into As-Sahabah Cultural Association, a Muslim mosque in Eagan.

William Allen Mattingly, 26, was charged with second-degree burglary in the incident, in which Eagan police say he stole $200 from a safe.

According to the complaint, Eagan police responded to the As-Sahabah Cultural Association on Oct. 10 on the report that someone had pried open the door to enter the mosque and in the office had opened a donation box and broken into a safe.

The box was found on the floor and a large safe in the office was missing $200, according to the complaint. Someone had turned the surveillance camera in the office away from the door.

Eagan police received surveillance video on Oct. 12 and the next day arrested Mattingly at a mosque in Bloomington. Mattingly matches the person seen on the video entering As-Sahabah at the time of the burglary, the complaint says.

Mattingly eventually admitted to being present at the mosque on Oct. 10. He also admitted to being at the mosque on Oct. 2, when someone stole $200 from the donation box.

Regarding the Oct. 10 burglary, he said that while he had broken into the office, opened the donation box and broke into the safe, he did not find any money. He also admitted to turning the surveillance camera away from the door.

Mattingly said he had committed the break-in because when he asked for money at the mosque on Oct. 2 saying that he was homeless, people laughed at him. He then became angry because, according to the complaint, he said "people of the Muslim faith are supposed to take care of each other and when they did not agree to help him out, he decided he was going to steal from them."

If convicted, Mattingly faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

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