SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – It was the pursuit of money and candy – not a hatred of Muslims – that led seven 15-year-old boys to break into the Al-Baqi Islamic Center and set a fire that gutted the mosque, authorities said.

“It’s clear that the motive has nothing to do with any anti-Islamic sentiment,” Hampden District Attorney William Bennett said Tuesday after announcing the teens arrests.

“The only reason this building was targeted is because the juveniles thought they could steal things from that building.

“It’s really an act of vandalism we’re talking about,” he said.

Three of the teens pleaded innocent Tuesday in Springfield Juvenile Court to charges of arson, breaking and entering and larceny.

The other four are scheduled to be arraigned on the same charges in Juvenile Court on Wednesday, Bennett said.

Bennett said he has not determined whether to prosecute the teens as adults or juveniles.

There were no injuries in the fire that tore through the 121-year-old building that has housed the mosque for about 40 years.

The boys broke into the mosque last week to steal about $250 worth of money and candy, then set a fire that spread throughout the building, Bennett said. He said there was no accelerant used to start the blaze.

All of the boys live near the mosque, but none of them or their families are members, Bennett said. The investigation is ongoing, and Bennett would not say whether the boys set the fire to just to cover their tracks.

Rasul Seifullah, the mosque’s imam, said he was relieved that local, state and federal investigators ruled out the possibility that the fire was a hate crime. Still, he was disheartened that neighborhood teenagers were charged with burning a place of worship for about 100 area Muslims.

“A lot of young people are actually lost,” Seifullah told The Associated Press. “They have no focus, no discipline, no purpose. I’d like to sit down and talk to them and find out where they’re coming from and what was on their minds when they did this.”

Seifullah said the mosque’s insurance company and city officials will determine whether the building, which was originally a school, can be renovated or should be demolished.

In the meantime, his congregation has held services at the Nation of Islam’s Springfield mosque, and has been offered space at several churches in the area.

“The outreach from the interfaith community has been the most remarkable thing and the blessing that’s come out of this,” Seifullah said.