{"id":60352,"date":"2026-02-03T14:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T22:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60352"},"modified":"2026-02-03T14:19:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T22:19:31","slug":"mississippi-man-sentenced-to-30-years-in-prison-for-setting-fire-to-a-mormon-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60352","title":{"rendered":"Mississippi Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Setting Fire to a Mormon Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"130\" data-end=\"329\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\"><strong data-start=\"130\" data-end=\"148\">WIGGINS, Miss.<\/strong> \u2014 <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"130\" data-end=\"329\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3918 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice-300x300.png\" alt=\"Two Men Arrested for Allegedly Operating One of the Largest Synthetic Drug Smuggling Rings\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>A Mississippi man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for vandalizing and setting fire to a church he targeted because of its religious beliefs, federal prosecutors stated Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"331\" data-end=\"563\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">Stefan Day Rowold, 37, of Wiggins, was sentenced Monday to 360 months in prison after a jury in Mississippi convicted him in September 2025 on six counts, including federal arson and civil rights violations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"858\" data-end=\"1157\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">Evidence at trial showed that Rowold twice broke into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wiggins, vandalizing the building and setting fires on July 5 and July 7, 2024. Prosecutors said Rowold targeted the church because of animosity toward what he believed were its religious views.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"1159\" data-end=\"1558\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">According to officials, Rowold told police he spray-painted hateful messages on interior walls and ignited a fire in a multipurpose room using hymnals, paintings, and other religious items as kindling. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"1159\" data-end=\"1558\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">After learning that the first fire failed to destroy the building, Rowold returned two days later \u2014 after authorities had attempted to secure the scene \u2014 and set a second fire against an interior wall, investigators said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"1560\" data-end=\"1650\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">The damage forced the congregation to suspend services at the building for several months.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"1652\" data-end=\"1737\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">At sentencing, the court ordered Rowold to pay $176,564 in restitution to the church, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WIGGINS, Miss. \u2014 A Mississippi man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for vandalizing and setting fire to a church he targeted because of its religious beliefs, federal prosecutors stated&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mississippi Man 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