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 ...
There is nothing funny about burning churches (unless of course your Muslim)
I think it would be funny if someone burned down the homes of these 'students', preferably with them in it.
In my state, you can legally shoot someone to prevent them from committing arson. I wonder how funny these perps would have found that.
How about 300 years in prision?...........
Just kidding, we'll let you out in 20!..ha ha ha ha ......
AIDS was the first disease with civil rights. A whole Hell of a lot could be done to stop the spread the illness by quarantining those stricken. But nooooo!.
So this is Methodist on Baptist violence?
Well, that's a new one.
Well, I tried...
:)
A live-cam in their cells so we all can watch their further exploits in 'frivolity'.
"How about 300 years in prison?......."
That was my first thought...
Some ideas are just so funny in themselves, you can't improve on them.
I wonder if these boys have about $50 million to rebuild the churches they burned down for laughs ?
If these were common yokels we would know how there parents voted 40 years ago, but since these clowns are some brokebackin theatre majors we will end up knowing very little.
I can't quit laughing......at how stupid they are.
Wonder where the whole story is.
College students cannot be that stupid without cult or occult activity or some wonderful new religion like Muslimism.
18 USC 247-
from http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
(a) Whoever, in any of the circumstances referred to in subsection (b) of this section—
(1) intentionally defaces, damages, or destroys any religious real property, because of the religious character of that property, or attempts to do so; or
(2) intentionally obstructs, by force or threat of force, any person in the enjoyment of that person’s free exercise of religious beliefs, or attempts to do so;
shall be punished as provided in subsection (d).
(d) The punishment for a violation of subsection (a) of this section shall be—
if bodily injury results to any person, including any public safety officer performing duties as a direct or proximate result of conduct prohibited by this section, and the violation is by means of fire or an explosive, a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more that 40 years, or both.
Those two are going to be much sought after in the pokey.
Their parents must be so proud...
Theater majors burn Baptist churches - Brokeback Rednecks?
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