Judge orders prison for man who admitted to damaging power facility

27 Dec 2023, 21:49 by Peter S. Levitt · Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mohammed Mesmarian, who pleaded guilty but mentally ill to felony counts of second-degree arson and malicious destruction of property in an attack on a solar power station, appears in court for sentencing at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

Mohammed Mesmarian, who pleaded guilty but mentally ill to felony counts of second-degree arson and malicious destruction of property in an attack on a solar power station, waves toward his family in court before his sentencing at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

Clark County District Court Judge Ronald Israel sentences Mohammed Mesmarian in court at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. Mesmarian pleaded guilty but mentally ill to felony counts of second-degree arson and malicious destruction of property in an attack on a solar power station. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

Mohammed Mesmarian, who pleaded guilty but mentally ill to felony counts of second-degree arson and malicious destruction of property in an attack on a solar power station, apologizes to the court and his family during his sentencing at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

A man convicted of intentionally vandalizing a solar power plant and setting his car on fire at the scene was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison and ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution.

Mohammed Mesmarian, 35, was arrested in January after breaking into the MGM Mega Solar Array, in the 10500 block of U.S. Highway 93, about 30 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Authorities said Mesmarian broke into the facility by driving his Toyota Camry through a fence, and later set his car on fire near the facility’s main transformer.

Mesmarian, a dentist from Colorado, spent several hours inside the plant after breaching the fence, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Dickerson. Once inside, Mesmarian started “messing with essentially everything” and manipulating the power array and the locks to the control center, according to Dickerson.

Mesmarian’s actions caused a costly shutdown of the plant’s operations, Dickerson said, adding that the plant provides “approximately 95 percent of the power to all MGM properties here in the valley.”

Mesmarian, who pleaded guilty in November to arson and malicious destruction of property, said that his recent mental health treatment had him “on the right track going forward.”

Jeffrey Nicholson, Mesmarian’s attorney, argued that his client had already spent almost a year in custody and should not receive any further prison time.

Nicholson told District Judge Ronald Israel that, unlike a terrorist, Mesmarian did not start his crime spree with “the idea, ‘I’m going to destroy this, I’m going to knock these buildings down, I’m going to hurt this many people.’ ”

But Israel did not agree that Mesmarian posed no further risk, noting that Mesmarian had twice tried to escape from custody. Israel also found that a defense-retained psychiatrist’s opinion was at odds with the opinions of other professionals, who thought Mesmarian had schizophrenia.

The judge then handed down a 2-year prison sentence, with credit for the time Mesmarian has already served.

After his arrest, Mesmarian told police that he set the car on fire “for the big message, large picture, greater good,” explaining that “the greater good was clean energy,” an officer wrote in his arrest report.

Mesmarian was arrested Jan. 5 at the Boulder Beach campground in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Police found multiple firearms and a notebook with the word “solar” written on the first page at the campsite.

Contact Peter S. Levitt at plevitt@reviewjournal.com.