An unidentified person (L) is escorted out of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula's home by Los Angeles County Sheriff's officers in Cerritos, California, Saturday. – Reuters LOS ANGELES – A Southern California filmmaker linked to an anti-Islamic movie inflaming protests across the Muslim world was interviewed by federal probation officers at a Los Angeles sheriff's station but was not arrested or detained, authorities said early Saturday. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was interviewed at the station in his hometown of Cerritos, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Don Walker said. Federal officials have said they were investigating the activities of Nakoula, who has been convicted of financial crimes. If the probation department determines Nakoula violated terms of his release, a judge could send him back to prison. Walker said Nakoula traveled voluntarily in a squad car with deputies. “He went to the Cerritos station to talk with probation officers. He's not under any arrest,” Walker said. The deputy said he doesn't have information on the interview or how long it lasted. KNBC-TV reported that Nakoula went to the station early Saturday morning. The federal probation department's California central district office in Los Angeles is reviewing the case of Nakoula, who was previously convicted on bank fraud charges and was banned from using computers or the Internet as part of his sentence. The review is aimed at learning whether Nakoula violated the terms of his five-year probation. Karen Redmond, a spokeswoman for the administrative office of the US courts, confirmed Friday the review is under way. Federal authorities have identified Nakoula, a self-described Coptic Christian, as the key figure behind “Innocence of Muslims,” a film denigrating Islam and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). A federal law enforcement said Thursday that authorities had connected Nakoula to a man using the pseudonym of Sam Bacile who claimed earlier to be the writer and director of the film. Federal prosecutors had charged that Nakoula used multiple false identities in creating his fraudulent accounts. Several, such as, Nicola Bacily, were similar to the Sam Bacile pseudonym used to set up the YouTube account for the anti-Islamic film. Other pseudonyms used in the accounts ranged from Ahmed Hamdy to P.J. Tobacco. Nakoula was also told he could not have any access to the Internet “without the prior approval.” – Agencies
