Kevin Colantonio, 36, started a fire at Shiloh Gospel Temple in North Providence, Rhode Island during the early morning of 11 February. He is expected to plead guilty on 7 January. According to prosecutors he set the blaze because of the “race, color, religion, national origin and/or ethnicity of the congregants there.” The Pentecostal Church is predominantly black and has existed for 35 years.
He was charged with buying a pocket lighter as well as gasoline at a local convenience store and then setting several fires right outside Shiloh Gospel Temple. The fires were set around midnight and nobody was inside the building. The fires damaged the buildings. According to investigators, the Temple would have been completely destroyed but authorities were quickly alerted.
Federal Law Enforcement charged Colantonio with obstruction of the free exercise of religious beliefs; malicious damage by means of fire and two counts of assaulting a federal officer. The assault charge comes from allegations that Colantonio concocted a mixture of bodily fluids which he threw at two corrections officers working in the lockup where he was being detained pending the outcome of his case.
The alleged arsonist faces a sentence of at least five years in prison after a change of plea hearing planned for 7 January. Court filings report that Colantonio could get a maximum sentence of 56 years in prison. However defendants who plead guilty and thereby avoid a trial, rarely are given the harshest punishment possible. He could also be fined up to $1m and given three years of supervised release from prison
As we reported earlier this year, other churches have been targeted by arson attacks. A man from Cape Girardeau Missouri was charged with a Federal hate crime after he allegedly set a fire that destroyed a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints church in the city. The suspect, Christopher Pritchard, 45, was also slapped with charges of second-degree arson, burglary, and felony stealing, according to Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Welker.
The fire engulfed the church in April 2021. Nobody was present at the time of the arson and no injuries were reported. The church was completely demolished. While he initially denied setting the fire Pritchard eventually pleaded guilty to violating the Church Arson Prevention Act and arson of a building affecting foreign or interstate commerce.
Before the attack, The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office had received a plea for extra security because church officials were having problems with Pritchard, who allegedly had threatened to assault a church bishop and “burn the church down.” In an initial interview, the suspect allegedly admitted making threats toward the bishop and church but denied setting the fire.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said “Attacks on houses of worship in our country undermine the fundamental right to practice one’s religion free from fear or violence. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce federal laws that protect all houses of worship from violent, hate-fueled attacks.” Sentencing will be held in February 2025.