A man who set fires at two mosques in the Twin Cities in 2023 pleaded guilty to federal charges Wednesday, prosecutors said.

Jackie Rahm Little, 38, admitted to one count of arson and one count of damage to religious property for the fires at the Masjid Al-Rahma Mosque in Bloomington and the Masjid Omar Islamic Center in Minneapolis. A sentencing date has not been set.

Court records show that Little had a history of mental illness, arson or suspected arson and domestic violence.

April 30, 2023 courtesy photo of Jackie Rahm Little, in custody at the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minn. Little, 36, suspected of setting fires to Minneapolis mosques and vandalizing the office of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar was indicted Thursday, May 4, 2023 on federal charges of arson and damage to religious property. He was indicted by a federal grand jury for an April 24 fire at the Masjid Al-Rahma mosque. Authorities are also investigating him as a suspect in a fire that damaged the Masjid Omar Islamic Center inside a Somali shopping mall on April 23, as well as in the January vandalism of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s office and of a Somali American police officer’s vehicle, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said at a news conference. (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

“When someone sets fire to a house of worship, it is not only a federal crime, it is an attack on the heart of a community,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in a statement. “Minnesota has endured too many assaults on our sacred spaces.”

The fire that Little started at the Bloomington mosque on April 24, 2023, forced the evacuation of children who were attending day care and caused more than $378,000 in damage. He also lit a cardboard box on fire the day before in a restroom at the Minneapolis mosque, but was interrupted by an employee before the fire could spread.

Leaders said the fires shocked the local Islamic community and saw them as part of a larger trend of increased attacks on mosques and Muslim institutions across the state and country.

“These violent attacks were meant to instill fear, but instead they have strengthened our community’s resolve,” Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement. He was at the Bloomington mosque when the fire started there and helped evacuate the children.