A 28-year-old man from Nashville, Tennessee reportedly faces civil rights charges for setting fire to four churches in 2019.
The Daily Mail said Alan Douglas Fox is charged with four accounts of arson that is subject to 80 years imprisonment along with the charge of possession of a firearm that means an additional five years of imprisonment.
Fox is said to have conducted the series of arson attacks on the churches in just one week back in June 2019 due to their "religious character."
In particular, the said churches are the Priest Lake Community Baptist Church, the Saint Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church, the Crievewood Baptist Church, and the Crievewood United Methodist Church. Fox started his fire spree at Crievewood Methodist, followed some days later at Crievewood Baptist and Saint Ignatius, and ended at Priest Lake.
The case is filed in the U.S. Department of Justice Attorney's Office Middle District of Tennessee. In a statement dated August 24, the charges against Fox was announced by U.S. Middle District of Tennessee Attorney Mary Jane Stewart and Civil Rights Division Attorney General Kristen Clarke.
"Alan Douglas Fox, 28, was charged by criminal Information with setting fire to the Crievewood United Methodist Church on June 17, 2019; the Crievewood Baptist Church on June 25, 2019; the Saint Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church on June 25, 2019; and the Priest Lake Community Baptist Church on June 26, 2019. Fox is also charged with carrying and using a firearm during the arson of the Crievewood Baptist Church," the Department of Justice statement said.
The fire at the Crievewood Baptist Church was said to be started first in its Sunday school room where Fox torched a cabinet full of paper. Fox also stole two flat-screen TVs at Priest Lake as shown by the security camera footage.
Priest Lake Pastor Titus Augustine testified seeing a man from his home smash the church door and walking inside it. While footages reveal that Fox used a credit card to unlock the door before starting the fire.
According to prosecutors of the United States Department of Justice, Fox admitted to burning the said churches "intentionally" due to the "religious character of the churches." The Nashville Fire Department together with the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Tennessee's Bureau of Investigations handled the investigation of the case.
"The Information alleges that Fox intentionally set the fires because of the religious character of the churches," the Department of Justice said.
The Department of Justice also announced that case will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Beth Myers and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Kyle Boynton. It also clarified that the charges remain "merely accusations" and Fox is still "presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law."
Fox was identified by fire investigators who traced him through "anonymous tips" sent to Tennessee's fire marshal's office that eventually led to his apartment and his arrest.
Immediately after the incident, Crievewood Baptist Associate Pastor William Sensing revealed that the church walls, floors, and ceiling were covered in soot. He disclosed that the church is striving to pull things together.
"I was born in Nashville, lived all my life here, several generations, and this is not Nashville, and I know that, and we're all better than this, and we're all pulling together," Sensing said.
