Tag: Church

Vandals target 231-year-old California church building with misspelled ‘genocide’ graffiti

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Police in Santa Barbara California believe anti-Columbus day sentiment is motive behind vandalism at a church established in 1786.  Someone spray painted “genocide”, smashed a window, and damaged other pieces of church property of the Old Mission Santa Barbara. The Los Angeles Times reports they caused an estimated $25,000 in damage. KYET television published a photo of the damage.

File news reports from the area say the same church was vandalized last year.  Cameras were installed following that attack.  Video from those cameras of this year’s attack is being reviewed by detectives.

The 231-year-old building is home to a community of Franciscan Friars

 

U.S. strengthens hate crimes laws to protect churches and religious institutions

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church damage

U.S. President Donald Trump this month signed a bill into law increasing punishments for criminals who target churches or religiously affiliated organizations. The bill was introduced in response to a growing number of vandalism, bomb threats and other attacks on religious freedom in the U.S.

Existing U.S. law protects abortion clinics and other facilities frequently target by vandals.  The new law expands similar protections for churches. According to a news release from the White House, The Protecting Religiously Affiliated Institutions Act of 2018 criminalizes the intentional obstruction of any person’s free exercise of religious beliefs by threat of force against religious real property. It increases the penalty to three years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine for threats that lead to damage. Those offenses were misdemeanors with a maximum one year in jail before the bill was signed.

 

New York reverend to ask leniency for church vandals

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Two New York men are facing charges connected to the Aug. 19 vandalism of a Greek Orthodox Church building.

According to TexasGospe.org file stories, the vandals smashed a stained glass window, tore down a church sign and kicked over potted plants at Saints Anargyroi, Taxiarchis and Gerasimos Greek Orthodox Church. The vandalism was captured on surveillance video that was aired on News12 Long Island. Southold police say two suspects turned themselves in after the footage was aired.

The suspects, Wesley S. Brown, 21, of Westchester County, and Mitchell Mayer, 22, of Burlington, Vermont, face misdemeanor charges of fourth-degree criminal mischief.

A police spokesperson said the vandalism does not appear to be a hate crime directed at the church, but the result of two who were drunk and disorderly.

The Rev. Jerasimos Ballas told Newsday.com he plans to reach out to authorities to ask for leniency for the two men.

Texas man guilty of arson and criminal mischief in attack on Presbyterian church

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mug shotA Fort Worth, Texas man is sentenced to 40 years in prison for the January arson of a church building.

According to CBS Local in the Dallas Fort Worth area, Thomas Britton went on a rampage at St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth causing nearly $800,000 in damage.  This week he was found guilty of arson and criminal mischief.

“This was not just criminal mischief. This was historic criminal mischief,” said prosecutor Vincent Giardino to the Fort Worth Business Press. “The police officers on the scene that morning, and even his own defense attorney, said they’d never seen anything like it. His goal was not just to damage this church, but to obliterate it. And he has no remorse for it.”

The trial begin Tuesday in before Judge Robb Catalano Tarrant County’s Criminal District 3.   Jurors deliberated for less than 10 minutes Thursday before reaching a guilty verdict.

Trial for accused church vandal to begin Tuesday in Texas

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Thomas Britton (Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office )

Prosecutors in Texas say a man on trial this week is the criminal who vandalized, then tried to burn down a church building in Fort Worth.

The main building of St. Stephen Presbyterian Church received heavy damage in January.  Multiple windows, walls, art, educational supplies, toys, books and more were destroyed, according to a Go Fund Me page set up to help the congregation. Surveillance video of the arsonist was released through local media.  A citizen recognized Thomas Britton, 55, a homeless man, as the man in the video.   The Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper reports Britton had a black, tarry substance on his face and hands.  He claimed it was because he had been wildcatting on an oil rig. He was charged and indicted for criminal mischief over $300,000.

A motive for the criminal act has not been announced by authorities.

Testimony in Britton’s trial is set to begin Tuesday.

According to jail records, Britton has been held in the Tarrant county jail without bond since his arrest.