Son of sheriff's deputy faces federal hate crime charges in Louisiana church fires

Federal hate crime charges have been filed against the son of a sheriff's deputy who was arrested in connection with a string of fires at three historically black churches in Louisiana, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Holden Matthews, 21, faces three counts of intentional damage to religious property, which constitute hate crimes under the Church Arson Prevention Act. He was also charged with three counts of using fire to commit a felony, the Justice Department said in a news release after the federal indictment was unsealed.

Holden Matthews, 21, was booked into the St. Landry Parish Jail on three counts of simple arson of a religious building.St. Landry Parish Sheriff Dept. The indictment says the fires were set "because of the religious character" of the properties.

The fires at the three churches, which were all started by gasoline and set from late March to early April, unnerved churchgoers in the St. Landry Parish region — conjuring up images of attacks on black churches in the South during the civil rights movement, and more recently, during the 1990s.

"Churches are vital places of worship and fellowship for our citizens and bind us together as a community," David Joseph, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, said in a statement. "Our freedom to safely congregate in these churches and exercise our religious beliefs must be jealously guarded. Today we are one step closer to justice for the parishioners of these churches and the St. Landry Parish communities affected by these acts."

Matthews already faced state charges in the church fires, including violating Louisiana's hate crime law. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.

[SOURCE: NBC NEWS]

FBI investigating fires at 3 black churches in Louisiana

The FBI has joined the investigation into a string of suspicious fires at historically black churches in Louisiana. Three churches have burned in less than two weeks in St. Landry Parish near Baton Rouge.

Arson reported at Virginia church with historical African American roots

A fire at a Northern Virginia church with historical roots in the African American community was deliberately set, authorities said Friday.

The fire was reported Oct. 22 at the Grace Annex United Methodist Church in Purcellville, said Laura Rinehart , a spokeswoman for the Loudoun County fire department.

In a statement released to the media, Rinehart said fire investigators had determined that the fire was “incendiary in nature.”

It remains under investigation, she said.

According to the statement, the early-morning fire caused a minimal amount of damage to the structure, and did not impede church operations.

Available historical information traces the roots of the church, in part, to a 19th-century congregation of Freedmen and Quakers that was established in the Lincoln area of Loudoun.

That church was described as one of the first black churches permitted by law in Loudoun.

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