{"id":55397,"date":"2024-01-30T15:51:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T23:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=55397"},"modified":"2024-01-30T15:51:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T23:51:12","slug":"ohio-man-sentenced-to-18-years-in-prison-for-trying-to-burn-down-church-because-it-supported-lgbtq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=55397","title":{"rendered":"Ohio Man Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Trying to Burn Down Church Because it Supported LGBTQ+"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"node-body\">\n<div class=\"field-formatter--text-default field-text-format--wysiwyg text-formatted field_body\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">An Ohio man was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison for attempting to burn down a church because it supported the LGBTQ+ community, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Aimenn D. Penny, 20, of Alliance, Ohio, was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/man-charged-arson-and-possession-destructive-device\">arrested and charged last year<\/a>\u00a0with one count of 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"> On Oct. 23, 2023, Penny\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/ohio-man-pleads-guilty-attempting-burn-down-church-planned-host-drag-show-events\">pleaded guilty<\/a>\u00a0to the church arson hate crime and using fire and explosives to commit a felony.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1Aez3YM0aaI?si=IVuGJKPC4RsT78Pq\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">According to court documents, on March 25, 2023, Penny made Molotov cocktails and drove to the Community Church of Chesterland (CCC), in Chesterland, Ohio. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Angered by the church\u2019s plan to host two drag events the following weekend, Penny threw two Molotov cocktails at the church, hoping to burn it to the ground. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Through Penny\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-55380 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1e03ebda-45a2-4a94-8176-a9975e0e7112-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1e03ebda-45a2-4a94-8176-a9975e0e7112-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1e03ebda-45a2-4a94-8176-a9975e0e7112-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1e03ebda-45a2-4a94-8176-a9975e0e7112-850x638.jpg 850w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1e03ebda-45a2-4a94-8176-a9975e0e7112.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/>\u201cAimenn Penny will spend the next 18 years in prison because he committed crimes fueled by hate, attempting to burn down a church because its members supported the LGBTQI+ community,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Rebecca C. Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio. \u201cHate crimes like Penny\u2019s hurt not only the individual target but the entire community, causing people to fear attack based on who they love and undermining the sense of safety within places of worship. Violent, bias-motivated extremism has no place in our country, and our office will aggressively prosecute those who commit such crimes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">\u201cAimenn Penny is being held accountable for trying to burn down a house of worship because he disagreed with the church hosting certain events,\u201d said Executive Assistant Director Larissa L. Knapp of the FBI\u2019s National Security Branch. \u201cIndividuals who commit acts of violence, destroy property, and interfere with the free exercise of religion will face justice for those crimes. As in this case, the FBI, together with our law enforcement partners, will use our lawful authorities to protect our communities from such violence and ensure those responsible pay the price.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">The FBI Cleveland Field Office investigated the case.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Deckert and Matthew W. Shepard for the Northern District of Ohio, Trial Attorneys Jacob Warren and Justin Sher of the National Security Division\u2019s Counterterrorism Section, and Trial Attorney Eric Peffley of the Civil Rights Division\u2019s Criminal Section prosecuted the case.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Ohio man was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison for attempting to burn down a church because it supported the LGBTQ+ community, officials stated. Aimenn D. Penny, 20, of Alliance,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3255],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fbi","category-federal-court"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ohio Man Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Trying to Burn Down Church Because it Supported LGBTQ+<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An Ohio man was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison for attempting to burn down a church because it supported the LGBTQ+ community, officials stated.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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