Tulsa man sentenced after throwing Molotov Cocktail into LGBTQ-friendly donut shop
TULSA, Okla. (KFOR) – A Tulsa man has been sentenced for throwing a Molotov Cocktail inside an LGBTQ-friendly donut shop back in 2022.
According to court documents, 25-year-old Coby Green was seen on security camera footage outside The Donut Hole at 33rd and Peoria in the early morning hours of Oct. 31, 2022.
U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson says Green placed a flyer with anti-LGBTQ slogans on the business next door before using a baseball bat to break the glass door of the donut shop.
Green then lit a Molotov Cocktail and threw it into the restaurant. Officials say the incendiary device did not fully detonate but still caused fire damage to the business.
“This wasn’t a random act, it was a targeted crime,” an employee at a nearby business told KFOR in 2022. “It’s horrible.”
Tulsa donut shop faces vandalism twice in one month
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and Tulsa Fire Department investigators later searched Green’s residence and found several copies of newspaper articles about the donut shop being vandalized. An ATF Certified Fire Investigator said that arsonists will often keep mementos or “trophies.”
During the search of the residence, investigators also found flyers similar to those left at the Donut Hole, as well as clothing and the lighter seen in the security footage, according to U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.
Court documents state that Green had been previously arrested in Tulsa County for arson at a separate restaurant in 2021. That case was dismissed because the prosecuting witness failed to appear.
Investigators also received additional reports of Green causing disturbances and leaving anti-LGBTQ flyers at other LGBTQ-friendly businesses around the Tulsa area.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell sentenced Green to 60 months imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release for malicious use of explosive material. His sentence included a hate crime motivation enhancement.
Green will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.
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