The Justice Department under President Biden has come under criticism for offering a favorable plea deal to a vandal who confessed to committing several crimes, including defacing a Catholic church with vulgar graffiti, damaging a statue of the Virgin Mary, assaulting a church employee, and resisting arrest.
Fox News reported Wednesday that review of the plea agreement by the outlet revealed that the DOJ has recommended zero jail time for Maeve Nota, a 31-year-old transgender individual who vandalized the St. Louise Catholic Church in Bellevue, Wash.
Nota stands in stark contrast to the Biden administration’s previous approach of imposing severe penalties on pro-life demonstrators outside abortion clinics, the outlet noted.
“It is very clear that the Biden Justice Department has politicized and weaponized the FACE Act to go after pro-life Christians praying outside of abortion clinics like Mark Houck while turning a blind eye to violent felons terrorizing and badly damaging Catholic churches like Maeve Nota,” Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“The Biden Justice Department tried to put Houck in prison for 11 years for defending his son while recommending no jail time for Nota after this deranged trans terrorist badly damaged a Catholic church, fought with the police, assaulted a church employee, and scared the hell out of a little old lady praying,” Davis said.
The network reported that Nota broke two glass doors using rocks and spray-painted the church walls outside with messages that read, “F— Catholics,” “rot in your fake hell,” “kid groomers,” and “woman haters,” among other graphic messages.
“A church staff member was spray-painted across their face while attempting to chase Nota away,” Fox News Digital added.
When officers found Nota, they reported that the suspect used a backpack filled with spray paint cans to damage the police vehicle before surrendering.
According to investigators who previously spoke to KOMO News, Nota appeared to be intoxicated during the arrest and was reportedly angry about the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade the week before the incident.
Police Captain Darryl McKinney told FOX13 Seattle shortly after the incident that the suspect’s actions and the $10,000 in damages done to the church qualified as a hate crime.
But Biden’s DOJ charged Maeve Nota with destruction of religious property, which is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and $100,000 in fines, according to filings from early March.
The Justice Department, Nota, and his attorney all agreed to a plea deal that had not been reported previously, which recommends no jail time for Nota and three years of probation at the time of his sentencing on June 2.
The difference in treatment between Nota and pro-life activist Mark Houck is striking. While Nota is being offered a plea deal with no jail time for vandalizing a Catholic church, Houck faced an FBI raid on his home and the Biden administration’s push for an 11-year prison sentence for a confrontation with a Planned Parenthood escort, according to Fox News Digital.
Houck was accused of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it illegal to use force to intimidate or injure clinic workers. The accusation stemmed from an incident where Houck allegedly pushed a Planned Parenthood escort outside an abortion clinic. Houck was ultimately acquitted.
