BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Three former college students convicted of setting fire to nine Baptist churches in rural Alabama were sentenced to prison April 9. They must also pay millions in restitution and perform community service for their crime.
Matthew Cloyd, 21, and Benjamin Moseley, 20, each received eight years in federal prison. Russell Lee DeBusk Jr., 20, received a seven-year sentence since he was not involved in setting all of the fires.
Cloyd and Moseley will also each pay $3.1 million each in restitution; DeBusk will pay $1.9 million. Upon their release, each will complete 300 hours of community service at the burned-out churches.
The men, former students at Birmingham-Southern College and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said they set the fires as a joke but that it “got out of hand.” According to Associated Press reports, the three set the first fires during a night of drinking and hunting. They then continued to set fires in the following weeks of February 2006 to throw authorities off their trail.
Fires completely destroyed Ashby Baptist Church in Brierfield, Rehobeth Baptist Church in Randolph and Pleasant Sabine Baptist Church near Centreville on the night of Feb. 2-3. The other two churches, Old Union Baptist in Randolph and Antioch Baptist in Centreville, sustained damage but escaped complete destruction.
All of the churches but Pleasant Sabine belong to the Southern Baptist Convention, the Alabama Baptist Convention and the local Bibb County Baptist Association. Another string of fires Feb. 7 completely destroyed the Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, near Boligee, and Galilee Baptist Church in Panola. Dancy First Baptist Church near Aliceville and Spring Valley Baptist Church near Emelle suffered some damage.
Walter Hawkins, pastor of Dancy First Baptist, told the AP he asked the judge for leniency in the sentencing. His congregation has forgiven the men, he said.
All three men will appear in a Bibb County court April 12 for a hearing to determine if they will gain youthful offender status, which would lessen their punishment from state authorities. State authorities have asked for additional sentences in Alabama prisons.
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