Covenant News Wire Service

Arrests In Alabama Church Fires

Arrests In Alabama Church Fires

Two 19-year-old college students have been arrested in connection with a string of church arsons in rural Alabama last month. A third suspect is being sought.

The two in custody were being arraigned Wednesday morning in federal court in Birmingham. They were being charged with federal arson counts, but apparently not civil rights charges, according to one official.

The two were identified as Ben Moseley and Russell Debusk, both students at Birmingham Southern College. The third person being sought was described as a student at another Birmingham school, federal law officers said.

Tire tracks from the scene of the fires helped lead investigators to a truck. Some girlfriends may have also tipped authorities.

Arson investigators scheduled an afternoon news conference at their command center at the Tuscaloosa airport to discuss the arrests.

The fires destroyed or damaged nine churches – five in Bibb County and four in west Alabama.

A fire at a 10th rural church in Lamar County has been ruled arson but is not believed to be connected to the others.

Investigators have said they don't know a motive, but there is no racial pattern. Five of the churches had white congregations and five black. All were Baptist, the dominant faith in the region, and mostly in isolated country settings.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made the Alabama church arson case its top priority as scores of agents joined state and local law officers in the probe. The FBI had said earlier it was looking for two men, based partly on witness accounts.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/200
6/03/08/national/main1381604.shtml

Posted by Editor at March 8, 2006 01:18 PM