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Man gets 20 years for TN church fires
AP ^ | 3/27/6

Posted on 03/27/2006 12:51:52 PM PST by SmithL

SPARTA, Tenn. — A man who pleaded guilty to burning two churches in a string of arsons has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Henry Dibrell, 48, was charged with setting fires at two predominantly black churches and five houses in Sparta, a town of 5,000 people about 75 miles southeast of Nashville. No one was hurt in the July 8 fires.

District Attorney Bill Gibson said Dibrell pleaded guilty March 16 in White County. He was sentenced to serve two consecutive 10-year sentences for the church fires.

Dibrell also was sentenced to serve six years concurrently on the other five arson counts.

Dibrell was arrested within days of the fires after an investigation led by the FBI, federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and state bomb and arson investigators.

Investigators ruled out a racial motive. Dibrell's relatives said he was mentally ill and addicted to drugs at the time.

Dibrell had previously served time in prison for arson.

The two churches, Roberts Church of Christ and Kynette United Methodist Church, are rebuilding.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Tennessee
KEYWORDS: churchfires

1 posted on 03/27/2006 12:51:54 PM PST by SmithL
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To: SmithL

He was mentally ill. The idiots that started the Georgia fires suffer from something much worse, liberalism.


2 posted on 03/27/2006 12:53:35 PM PST by Always Right
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To: SmithL
Tough luck for him.

I'll bet the two liberal college kids who just burned a bunch of churches spend less than three years each in the pokey.

They were just joking around, you know.

3 posted on 03/27/2006 12:54:02 PM PST by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: dead

"I'll bet the two liberal college kids who just burned a bunch of churches spend less than three years each in the pokey."

I'm not gonna take that bet.


4 posted on 03/27/2006 12:55:09 PM PST by L98Fiero (I'm worth a million in prizes.)
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To: Always Right

Alabama.........


5 posted on 03/27/2006 12:55:20 PM PST by Red Badger (And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him...)
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To: Always Right
I'm waiting to see how many years those allegrd anarchist church burners get.

BTW, is the guy in the photo from the KKK? At the time I recall it was the KKK which was accused of burning the black churches.
6 posted on 03/27/2006 12:56:04 PM PST by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
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To: BenLurkin

The guy in the post looks black to me?


7 posted on 03/27/2006 12:58:30 PM PST by okiecon
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To: BenLurkin

This is the first time they have mentioned anything about the crimes since the day this guy was caught. But of course, anyone might mistakenly remember the burnings as the KKK since it was the lead story for weeks as KKK burnings. But only one story of him being black.


8 posted on 03/27/2006 1:01:38 PM PST by cpanter
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To: okiecon
The guy in the post looks black to me?

He is. That's why authorities say it wasn't racially motivated.

9 posted on 03/27/2006 1:50:02 PM PST by OrangeDaisy
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To: SmithL

Could he be the real-life Clayton Bigsby?


10 posted on 03/27/2006 2:06:10 PM PST by rock_lobsta
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To: rock_lobsta

LOL. Kinda look like him.


11 posted on 03/27/2006 3:26:17 PM PST by okiecon
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