Minimum Fine For Man Who Burned LGBT Library Books

Iowa Public Radio reports:

A northwest Iowa man who burned four LGBTQ-themed children’s library books last year was found guilty of 5th degree criminal mischief Tuesday in Sioux County District Court. Paul Dorr, 63, of Ocheyedan, who runs the Christian group “Rescue The Perishing,” was fined $65 plus a 35 percent criminal penalty surcharge and court costs during his sentencing.

The $65 fine is the minimum for his charge, a simple misdemeanor. Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle, who represented the state of Iowa, requested Dorr be fined the maximum penalty of $625, a 35 percent surcharge and court costs for destroying the library’s property.

In October 2018, Dorr recorded himself on a video posted to social media publicly burning four children’s library books that have lesbian, gay and bisexual themes, mostly in protest to a pride festival happening in Orange City.

Dorr’s video of the burning remains on his Facebook page. As I reported last year, hundreds of LGBT-themed children’s books were donated to the library after his hateful stunt.