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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) — A man who admitted in federal court
to setting the fire that destroyed an eastern Missouri church
has been sentenced to more than nine years in prison and ordered
to pay the church nearly $7 million.
The sentence for Christopher Scott Pritchard, 49, was imposed
Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp over the April
2021 fire at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints
building in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, about 115 miles (185
kilometers) southeast of St. Louis. Pritchard pleaded guilty in
December to one felony count of arson and another felony count
of arson to a building used in interstate commerce.
The federal public defender representing Pritchard declined
comment Wednesday.
The interstate commerce charge came with a mandatory minimum
prison sentence of five years, and the judge ordered Pritchard
to serve nine years and three months. Prosecutors dropped two
other felony charges involving damage to religious property.
Authorities have said that two days before the fire, Pritchard
threatened to assault a bishop and “burn the church down.”
Officers found more than $1,000 in items belonging to the church
in Pritchard’s backpack, including a laptop, tools and 21
apples, and he smelled like smoke, police said.
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