Feds talk to Calif. anti-Muslim filmmaker

LOS ANGELES -- A Southern California filmmaker linked to an anti-Islamic movie inflaming protests across the Middle East was interviewed and released yesterday by federal probation officers at a county sheriff's station, authorities said.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was interviewed for about half an hour around midnight in his hometown of Cerritos, Calif., said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Los Angeles County sheriff's department. Deputies then dropped Nakoula off at an undisclosed location.

"He is gone. We don't know where he went," Whitmore said. "He said he is not going back to his home," which has been besieged by news crews.

Federal officials are investigating whether Nakoula has violated the terms of his five-year probation.

Nakoula pleaded no contest to bank fraud charges in 2010 and was banned from using computers or the Internet or using false identities.