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Terror suspect charged for damaging power plant outside Las Vegas found incompetent

By David Charns,

2023-02-01

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas judge found the man facing terror-related charges connected to a fire at a southern Nevada solar facility not competent to stand trial Wednesday.

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Mohammed Mesmarian, 34, faces terror-related charges for allegedly ramming a car through a fence at the facility and setting the car on fire next to a transformer. (KLAS)

As the 8 News Now Investigators first reported last month, Mohammed Mesmarian, 34, faces terror-related charges for allegedly ramming a car through a fence at the facility and setting the car on fire next to a transformer.

Judge Cristy Craig found Mesmarian not competent to understand the charges against him.

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A man is facing terror-related charges after police say he rammed his car through a gate at a solar plant outside Las Vegas and set his car on fire, disabling the huge facility. The plant provides the majority of power to MGM properties. (KLAS)

The Mega Solar Array facility, located about 30 miles north of Las Vegas, provides energy to MGM properties but is run by a company called Invenergy.

Mesmarian scoped out the solar facility for at least a day, documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained said. He was visiting the area for New Year’s, police wrote in the documents. The car was registered in Idaho.

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A man is facing terror-related charges after police said he broke into a solar energy facility and set his car on fire. (KLAS)

Police located Mesmarian at a campground Jan. 5 — a day after the fire — in Boulder Beach at Lake Mead. It was unclear how Mesmarian made it from the solar site to Boulder City, a 30-mile drive.

No one was hurt in the fire.

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