An Ohio man pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to violating the Church Arson Prevention Act and to using fire and explosives to commit a felony, officials announced Tuesday.
Aimenn D. Penny tried to burn down a church because the church supported the LGBTQI+ community.
According to court documents, on March 25, Aimenn D. Penny, 20, of Alliance, made Molotov cocktails and drove to the Community Church of Chesterland (CCC), in Chesterland, Ohio.
Angered by the church’s plan to host two drag events the following weekend, Penny threw two Molotov cocktails at the church, hoping to burn it to the ground.
Through Penny’s guilty plea, he admitted to using force through fire and explosives, intending to obstruct CCC congregants in their enjoyment and expression of their religious beliefs.
Penny was arrested and charged earlier this year with violating the Church Arson Prevention Act, one count of using fire to commit a federal felony, one count of malicious use of explosive materials, and one count of possessing a destructive device.
(News Report Earlier this Year)
“Attempting to burn down the Community Church of Chesterland for their support of the LGBTQI+ community is reprehensible,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “There is no room in this country for such bias-motivated violence and terror, and the Justice Department will continue to protect all Americans in their free exercise of religious beliefs by vigorously prosecuting those who target houses of worship. Our churches should be safe havens for all people, not sites subjected to violence motivated by hate and vitriol.”
Penny faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for violating the Church Arson Prevention Act and a 10-year mandatory prison sentence that will run consecutively with any other prison term imposed for using fire to commit a federal felony.
Sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 29.
The FBI Cleveland Field Office is investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Deckert and Matthew W. Shepard for the Northern District of Ohio and Trial Attorneys Jacob Warren and Justin Sher of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.