3 Men Jailed And Fined For Church Blazes

Former College Students Get A Combined 23 Years In Prison For Setting Alabama Church Fires

(CBS/AP)  Three former college students were sentenced to prison on Monday for a series of rural church fires that began as a prank during a night of drinking.

Matthew Cloyd, 21, and Benjamin Nathan Moseley and Russell Lee DeBusk, both 20, pleaded guilty in December to federal arson and conspiracy charges linked to the blazes set over two nights in February 2006.

Cloyd and Mosely were both sentenced Monday to eight years in prison, five years of probation and 300 hours of community service at the burned churches. According to the Birmingham News, each of the men expected to be sentenced to at least seven years in prison.

They were also ordered to pay $3.1 million in restitution to the churches that were burned.

U.S. District Judge David Proctor sentenced DeBusk to seven years in prison and five years probation and ordered him to pay $1.9 million in restitution. He received a lighter sentence because he was not involved in as many of the fires. He also did not have a plea agreement with prosecutors, papers reported.

All three showed no emotion when the sentence was read. They apologized to the church members and pastors in the courtroom.

In court documents, defense attorneys and supporters of the three said they set the fires as a prank during a night of drinking and illicit hunting.

Five churches were set ablaze in Bibb County about 45 miles south of Birmingham on one night. Four other churches were burned four days later in three western counties near the Mississippi line.

All three men admitted being involved in the first five fires. Cloyd and Moseley said they set the later blazes in an attempt to throw investigators off their trail.

Investigators captured the three after linking tire tracks left at the scene to the tires on a sport-utility vehicle driven by Cloyd.

In letters of support to the judge, relatives and friends described the defendants as bright young men who were led astray by alcohol and their peers.

Cloyd was studying to be a physician's assistant at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Moseley and DeBusk were theater majors attending school on scholarships at Birmingham-Southern College.

All three men also face state charges, and they are due in court in on Thursday for a hearing on whether they will be granted youthful offender status, a move that would lessen their state punishment.

District Attorney Michael Jackson expects the request to be denied. He and other local prosecutors are seeking time in state prison for the three after they finish their federal sentences.

[iceman_1960]

"...a series of rural church fires that began as a prank during a night of drinking."

The American Indians call alcohol "stupid water."

Or "stupidity in a bottle."

[iceman_1960]

"District Attorney Michael Jackson expects the request to be denied."

So that's what he's been up to these days.

I was wondering why I hadn't heard anything about him lately.

[knzbyte]

crime against a particlar religion is unpardonable and these clowns shd have known that ,they shd be given a tougher punishment and not those few baby years in a cell

[acauble1]

Hopefully when they get out they will be better %u201CMen%u201D for it.
Just a bunch of selfish, entitled young punks who thought the world was their oyster.
Prank my ***!

Posted by mgibson17 at 08:52 PM : Apr 09, 2007


Undoubtedly, they will be a lot worse for it, and so will the people who are unfortunate enought to come across them--very few people get rehabilitated in prison and due to the prison lifestyle and environment--it has a way of holding on to people and NOT letting them move on to a better life, even after they have done their time--they get hounded by police and people with grudges from prison or those who think they are owed something--will always be hunting them down and trying to either rat them out, frame them or use them in some way. Boys rarely think about the consequences when they do this kind of thing. I suppose the judge did not consider maybe TONS of community service?
Posted by toldyouso21 at 11:52 PM : Apr 09, 2007

Are you kidding me?

They will be much more 'stretched out' after being in prison for however many years! And that's great! These young punks need to be a$$ raped a few times to teach them a lesson!

Whoa! Look out! Here comes BUBBA!

ROTFLMAO!

[toldyouso21]

Hopefully when they get out they will be better %u201CMen%u201D for it.
Just a bunch of selfish, entitled young punks who thought the world was their oyster.
Prank my ***!

Posted by mgibson17 at 08:52 PM : Apr 09, 2007


Undoubtedly, they will be a lot worse for it, and so will the people who are unfortunate enought to come across them--very few people get rehabilitated in prison and due to the prison lifestyle and environment--it has a way of holding on to people and NOT letting them move on to a better life, even after they have done their time--they get hounded by police and people with grudges from prison or those who think they are owed something--will always be hunting them down and trying to either rat them out, frame them or use them in some way. Boys rarely think about the consequences when they do this kind of thing. I suppose the judge did not consider maybe TONS of community service?

[toldyouso21]

Do you guys realize that the most of the churches in question were black churches and they initially faced a hate crime with a lot more time? Did you not wonder why a plea deal still gave them so much time--but then what about the girl who deliberately burned down her house in March--the Judge in TX gave her probation. See a double standard here?

[toldyouso21]

7 years in prison for burning down a silly EMPTY church?
That's way too much time.

Posted by Agnim at 09:45 PM : Apr 09, 2007

Arson in some states carry a mandatory 30 year sentence so they got off lightly--but still, their lives are ruined by this. Surely something else more rehabilitative could be worked out?

[misspp-2009]

Agnim: OK, you've made your point. maybe you would feel better about this if you burned down a church or mosque.

[agnim]

If firefighters die putting out those fires, then the penalties go WAY UP!

If no one dies, paying for the buildings (don't replace the churches) is fair enough consequences.

Had it been EMPTY mosques, then medals would have been in order. LOL

[misspp-2009]

These 3 pieces of trash should have received longer sentences.