Posted on 03/08/2006 11:03:17 AM PST by presidio9
Two college students arrested Wednesday in a string of nine rural Alabama church arsons told authorities that the first fires were set as “a joke” and later blazes were intended as a diversion, federal agents said.
A third college student was arrested later Wednesday in the serial arsons, according to WVTM-TV of Birmingham.
Benjamin Nathan Moseley and Russell Lee Debusk Jr., both students at Birmingham-Southern College, appeared in federal court Wednesday and were ordered held on church arson charges pending a hearing Friday.
Matthew Lee Cloyd, reportedly a student at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, was arrested midday, the WVTM reported.
An ATF affidavit said Moseley told agents on Wednesday that he, Cloyd and Debusk went to Bibb County in Cloyd’s Toyota sport utility vehicle on Feb. 2 and set fire to five churches. A witness quoted Cloyd as saying Moseley did it “as a joke and it got out of hand,” according to the affidavit.
Moseley also told agents the four church fires in west Alabama were set “as a diversion to throw investigators off,” an attempt that “obviously did not work,” the affidavit said.
Arson investigators scheduled an afternoon news conference at the Tuscaloosa airport to discuss the arrests.
The first two suspects were arrested Tuesday night, NBC’s Pete Williams reported.
WVTM-TV, citing the state fire marshal’s office, said the two are students at Birmingham Southern College and were arrested at a college dorm.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made the Alabama church arson case a top priority as scores of agents joined state and local law officers in the probe.
Authorities analyzed tire tracks and traced the purchase of the tires to
-snip-
A federal source said the apparent motive was that the three students just liked to set and watch fires.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I would say both.
Human geography and fire graduates.
Aw....man...I must've missed the "dead" part. Someone shoulda told me....
Hrmpt,
You know me silly,
I would bury the poor dead kitty, not swing it!
Nope, thought about it, and think I'm right. Liberals hate the catholic church, but gay men do not. Heck, they've infested the place.
Just like the boy scouts. Liberals hate them, but gay males are silent. They want in.
"A witness quoted Cloyd as saying Moseley did it “as a joke and it got out of hand,” according to the affidavit.
"Moseley also told agents the four church fires in west Alabama were set “as a diversion to throw investigators off,” an attempt that “obviously did not work,” the affidavit said."
Obviously these guys are majoring in logic and processes.
Mortified would be my guess. One could assume the parents are successful business types as Birmingham Southern is quite expensive. We're looking at $30K per year for tuition, room and board.
Fallacious stereotype. Gays openly and vocally hate the Catholic Church. I can think of any number of gay protests at St. Patrick's in NYC as examples. Priests are men, but Catholic theology is particularly intolerant of homosexuality. You should check the facts once in a while before spouting your ignorance.
Here's your vaseline boys, laugh it up.
Not sure, but I think several of the churches Bill Clinton attended as a child were torched.
As were the churches of his teachers, (black( friends, etc.
Moseley's father is a Constable in Jefferson County, AL. I imagine he's not amused at his son's "joke."
Jail and Prison are a lot different from each other.
CONSTABLE DISTRICT NO. 44
with 16 of 16 Precincts counted (100.00%)
Votes Percent
STEPHEN A. MOSELEY (REP) 15,788 76.13%
WRITE-IN 175 0.84%
OVER VOTES 0 0.00%
UNDER VOTES 4,774 23.02%
Stephen Moseley is the father of Ben Moseley. It's gonna get ugly.
Constables must pull in the big bucks. I've got two kids in college right now and am hyperventilating at Birmingham Southern's fees.
"Constables must pull in the big bucks."
Actually, according to the newscast I saw, Moseley got a full-ride scholarship from the drama department, so big bucks weren't needed, apparently.
I have no idea what an Alabama Constable does, to tell you the truth.
Phelan (187 posts) Wed Mar-08-06 07:07 PM
Response to Reply #15
…I graduated from BSC and actually know one of the people that is involved, I'm shocked that he would do such a thing. he ruined his life... He was was probably one of the most popular kids on campus from what I recall, a theater kid with loads for friends, played guitar in public places a lot, was at every party on campus etc. FBI got their profile very wrong...but they are all over campus from what I hear...
They are drama students. Are they gay? Gays hate Fundamentalist churches.
Is that something like Ethno-biology?
I think a great punch line for this "joke" will be the veeeerrrrrry long prison sentence they each get.
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