Feds Question Alleged Islam Movie-Maker

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is hauled in to sheriff's station
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 15, 2012 6:38 AM CDT
Feds Question Allege Islam Movie-Maker
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies stand down the street from a suburban Los Angeles home believed to be that of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula Friday.   (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

The man believed to have produced the now-infamous Innocence of Muslims film is getting more attention than he banked on—from federal probation authorities. Sheriff's deputies escorted Nakoula Basseley Nakoula from his Southern California home late last night so he could be questioned by the feds, reports the Los Angeles Times. It's possible that in pushing the anti-Islam film, he violated the terms of his probation on a previous bank fraud conviction.

Under those 2010 terms, Nakoula wasn't supposed to use a computer or the Internet without approval from his probation officer for five years, reports AP. If it turns out Nakoula is indeed the fictional "Sam Bacile" who uploaded the film's trailer to YouTube, he might be in hot water. The use of a pseudonym probably won't help his cause, either: Nakoula got busted in 2010 after creating 600 fake credit accounts. (Meanwhile, reports have identified a soft-porn veteran as the film's director.)

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