Alleged anti-Muslim filmmaker questioned

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Los Angeles authorities took in for questioning the man they think is behind the anti-Muslim film that sparked protests at dozens of U.S. diplomatic facilities.

Los Angeles County sheriff's department spokesman Steve Whitmore told NBC4-TV, Los Angeles, police did not arrest or detain the man they believe is Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. Authorities took him in early Saturday for a voluntary interview with probation officials.

Nakoula covered his face as sheriff's deputies escorted him from a home in Cerritos, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Karen Redmond, a spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, said the Office of Probation in the Central District of California was evaluating whether Nakoula's alleged involvement in producing the anti-Muslim film "The Innocence of Muslims" and posting it online violated his probation in a 2010 bank fraud conviction. Under the terms of his probation, he is not allowed to access the Internet without permission from his probation officer.

The film depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a power- and sex-hungry bisexual pedophile of indeterminate parentage. It sparked a deadly attack at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

U.S. and other officials said the militants who attacked the Benghazi mission may have used the protests as a cover for their assault.

The filmmaker has not been named or identified, but a man using the pseudonym Sam Bacile has taken credit in media interviews for writing and directing "Innocence of Muslims." Authorities believe Nakoula goes by the alias of Sam Bacile, the Times said.