The 66-year-old man who is charged with lighting a fire in front of the Jewish Museum of Maryland earlier this month in Baltimore was ordered to undergo an evaluation of his competency to stand trial due to a history of mental illness.

Assadollah Hashemi will be screened Aug. 26 by a health professional. Court records indicate Hashemi was diagnosed with a mental health condition and police noted that he was in crisis during a prior case. He was denied bail at a hearing Monday.

Hashemi was charged in July 2022 with destruction of property valued at over $1,000. A few months later the charges were dropped. Last month, Baltimore City Police intervened in a behavioral health crisis at his apartment, according to a police report. He was alleged to have burned his trash can on the balcony.

According to court documents, Hashemi was born in Iran. The Army veteran worked most recently with industrial steel but is unemployed. He moved into an apartment on Druid Park Lake Drive about four months ago and was previously living at a shelter for about 1 1/2 years. Court documents didn’t specify Hashemi’s mental health diagnosis but noted that he is not medicated.

Hashemi faces two charges: attempted arson and attempted malicious burning of property costing $1,000 or more. The former holds a penalty of up to 20 years or $30,000 and the latter a punishment of up to five years or $5,000.

Surveillance footage of the building at 15 Lloyd Street in Jonestown on the east side of downtown around 10:30 p.m. Aug. 4 depicts a man walking up to the front gate, placing something on the ground, pouring a substance on it from a handheld cooler, igniting objects on the ground with a lighter and then driving away in a silver Chrysler 300 with a license plate affixed that is registered to a 2007 Mercedes-Benz. Firefighters arrived about 15 minutes later to put out the flames. An initial assessment by the fire marshal and a K-9 sniff of the region confirmed the presence of ignitable fluid in the area.

Museum staff told police the property hadn’t received any recent threats, according to the report.

Hashemi’s attorney through the public defender’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.