Suspects in 10 church arsons — including three in Athens, TX— arrested

[MuffyBee]

http://www.athensreview.com/breakingnews/x1004924171/Suspects-in-10-church-arsons-including-three-in-Athens-arrested

Suspects in 10 church arsons — including three in Athens — arrested
 
Suspects being held on $10 million bonds each
February 21, 2020


Jason Robert Bourque


Daniel George McAllister

Art Lawler The Athens Review

TYLER — Steven McCraw stood among a who's who of law officers from the federal, state, county and local levels Sunday afternoon at the Smith County Peace Officers Association building and said the words thousands of East Texans have been waiting to hear.

"People in East Texas can rest easier now," he said, just before announcing the capture and arrest of two suspects believed to be responsible for 10 church arsons since the beginning of the year: Jason Robert Bourque, 19, of Lindale and Daniel George McAllister, 21, of Ben Wheeler.

McCraw and the other officers seemed genuinely proud, confident and much relieved that the case of the East Texas church fires was apparently at an end.

Borque was reported to be a college student at Tyler Junior College, and the two men reportedly attended church together at First Baptist Church in Ben Wheeler, which is in Van Zandt County.

Though the two men have been charged with just one arson offense each at one unspecified Tyler church, McAllister said he was confident the two suspects will eventually be connected to all 10 church fires, plus attempts to break in into three more churches.

The investigations are ongoing.

Three of those church fires were set in Athens, at Faith Baptist Church, Grace Community Church and Lake Athens Baptist Church. However, the drawing released to East Texas media in recent days, were not part of the investigation, McCraw said.

Law enforcement officers declined to be specific about how they were able to connect the dots to capture both men almost simultaneously 300 miles apart when captured about 3 a.m. Sunday. But the task force network had obviously stretched far and wide.

Borque was arrested without incident in Van Zandt County and McAllister was arrested without incident by Texas Rangers in San Antonio.

Both were transported to Smith County Jail where bond for the first-degree felony offense was set at $10 million each.

It was no small task force that brought the suspects to justice, encompassing over 200 personnel from DPS, including Texas Rangers, Highway Patrol , troopers, Criminal Investigation Division agencies, fixed-wing and helicopter aviation assets and the DPS Communication and Fusion Centers, and numerous Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

The search for the church arsonists had begun on New Year's Day and had exhausted officers who had to cover a three-county area of Smith, Van Zandt and Henderson Counties and federal officials from Washington D.C., who hadn't been home with their families in almost two months.

"Clearly, this effort shows that Texas law enforcement has mastered the art and science of working together, sharing information, and dedicating the necessary resourced to bring cases such as these to a successful resolution, and these officers are to be commended," McCraw said.

"By working closely with our local and federal partners, we brought tremendous resources to this investigation, working around the clock, and culminating in these arrests.

"The arsons of these houses of worship were despicable and cowardly acts, and Texas won't stand for this kind of criminal activity," McCraw said.

Also deployed in the investigation was a four-year-old yellow lab female dog with a super snout by the name of Nina. Her human escort was Mark Mooney, a member of the East Texas Arson task force from Gilmer in Upshur County.

"She's an accelerate detection canine," he said. Without elaborating on details, he said the hound, who has her own badge, played a role in the capture of the suspects, too.

In fact, law enforcement officials at the conference praised just about everyone, from the church volunteers, who guarded their own parishes by night and day, to a cooperative news media that wouldn't let the story die, to individuals who provided numerous tips to the different agencies.

But according to a DPS release, it was a call to the task force tip line that alerted investigators to the whereabouts of the two men, leading to their capture.

Agencies involved in the arrests were reported to include DPS, FBI, ATF, Tyler Police Department, Henderson County Sheriff's Office and Fire Department; VAn Zandt County Sheriff's Office and Fire Department; Wills Point Police Department; Smith County Sheriff's Office, Fire Department and Fire Marshal's Office; Athens Police Department; and the Canton Police Department.



Dates and locations of the arsons:

Jan. 1, 9:02 a.m. — Little Hope Baptist Church, Canton;

Jan 1, 11:05 a.m. — Faith Baptist Church, Athens;

Jan. 11, 10:40 p.m. — Grace Community Church, Athens;

Jan. 12, 12:09 a.m. — Lake Athens Baptist Church, Athens;

Jan. 16, 6:30 p.m. — Tyland Baptist Church, Tyler;

Jan. 17, 6:33 p.m. — First Church of Christ Scientist, Tyler;

Jan. 20, 7:37 a.m. — Prairie Creek Fellowship, Lindale;

Feb. 4, 5:23 a.m. — Russell Memorial United Methodist Church;

Feb. 8, 8:47 p.m. — Dover Baptist Church, Tyler;

Feb. 8, 9:44 p.m. — Clear Springs Missionary Baptist Church, Lindale.



 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/us/22webchurch.html
2 Men Charged in Texas Church Fire
By DERRICK HENRY
Published: February 21, 2010


Two men were charged Sunday morning with setting fire to a church in east Texas and federal authorities said the men may face charges in nine other church fires.

The men, Jason Robert Bourque, 19, of Lindale, Tex., and Daniel George McAllister, 21, of Ben Wheeler, Tex., were arrested and charged with arson of a building in the Feb. 8 fire at Dover Baptist Church, located 15 miles northwest of Tyler, Tex.

Because the building was a church, the charges were elevated to a first-degree felony, said Thomas Crowley, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That felony carries a sentence ranging from probation to 99 years to life in prison, Mr. Crowley said.

“We’ve been looking at these guys for a while,” said Mr. Crowley. “But we had to paste together information.” He said various techniques led members of a special task force to the men, including DNA evidence and phone tips. A motive for the fires was still being investigated, federal authorities said.

The men had attended the First Baptist Church in Ben Wheeler together, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Sunday.

The string of fires damaged or destroyed 10 churches across three counties in Texas, including Smith, Henderson and Van Zandt. Before Sunday, nine of the blazes were considered arson but the 10th fire, which was set on New Year’s Day at Little Hope Baptist Church in Canton, Tex., was deemed arson on Sunday afternoon, Mr. Crowley said.

That means more charges against Mr. Bourque and Mr. McAllister are possible, Mr. Crowley said. No people were reported injured in the fires, the authorities said.

Bond for the men was set at $10 million. They were being held at the Smith County Jail in Tyler, pending a Monday court appearance in Smith County Court, Mr. Crowley said. Mr. McAllister was arrested in San Antonio by the Texas Rangers and Mr. Bourque was arrested in Van Zandt County, Mr. Crowley said.

Investigators have said that the fires have followed no set pattern. Different types of congregations, including Methodist, Baptist, Christian Scientist and nondenominational churches, have been hit. The fires have broken out at different times of day and on different days of the week. Many congregations have hired security guards or have asked their members to stand guard at night.

The rash of arsons recalled a similar episode in Alabama in February 2006, when three college students from the Birmingham suburbs burned down nine churches over two nights. The students pleaded guilty to federal arson charges and received lengthy sentences.

After three church fires in Athens, someone set fire to two churches in Tyler, about 90 miles southeast of Dallas, on Jan. 16 and 17. Two days later, a church in Lindale, about 15 miles to the north, went up in flames. Then on Jan. 20, another burned down in Wills Point, 45 miles east of Dallas.

On Feb. 8, fires broke out at two Baptist churches in a rural area 15 miles northwest of Tyler. The men are charged in one of those fires. The fires were three miles apart and started within an hour of each other, said the Tyler fire chief, Neal Franklin.

[MuffyBee]

http://news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=267582
Official: 2 arrests made in Texas church fire case
February 22, 2010

TYLER, Texas — A fire official said two arrests have been made in a series of east Texas church fires that authorities believe were intentionally set.

Authorities believe nine east Texas church fires have been deliberately set since Jan. 1. Officials say a 10th fire, about 120 miles south of Dallas in Temple, also was arson.

The two men are identified as 19-year-old Jason Robert Bourque of Lindale and 21-year-old Daniel George McAllister of Ben Wheeler, Texas.

Tyler fire Chief Neal Franklin said Sunday the arrests were made early Sunday. An afternoon news conference was scheduled in Tyler.

Bourque was arrested without incident in Van Zandt County and transported to Smith County, and McAllister was arrested without incident by Texas Rangers in San Antonio and also transported to Smith County.

"Arson is a devastating crime. It affected the community here in a way that, it's unheard of, the anxiety that these parishioners were having to deal with, the face that they were doing all the patrols that they were having to do, the injury that it did to the congregations," ATF agent Robert Champion said.

Bourque is said to be a business management student at the University of Texas at Tyler.

Both had attended church together in Ben Wheeler.

They are in jail on $10-million bonds each.

[MuffyBee]

http://news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=267546

Plane attack prompts debate over terrorism label
February 21, 2010

When a man fueled by rage against the U.S. government and its tax code crashes his airplane into a building housing offices of the Internal Revenue Service, is it a criminal act or an act of terrorism?

For police in Austin, it's a question tied to the potential for public alarm: The building set ablaze by Joseph Stack's suicide flight was still burning Thursday afternoon when officials confidently stood before reporters and said the crash wasn't an act of terrorism.

But others look at Stack's actions and fail to understand how he differs from foreign perpetrators of political violence who are routinely labeled "terrorists."

Says Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, "When you fly an airplane into a federal building to kill people, that's how you define terrorism."