FBI: Race a factor in church vandalism
LAFAYETTE — A 34-year-old Lafayette man was indicted in federal court this week for allegedly defacing two local churches in February 2011 because of the race, color and ethnicity of their congregations.
Brian Toriano Crimiel, who is black, was arrested last year for allegedly spray-painting racial slurs and leaving hate-filled notes strewn about St. James Baptist Church on Plum Street and Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on 12th Street, police said. The incidents occurred Feb. 13 and Feb. 26, respectively, at the two churches, which police have said have primarily black congregations.
The three-count indictment, which was made available on Friday, charges Crimiel with two counts of damage to religious property and one count of false statement. Neither police nor federal authorities have provided any motive for the crime.
The indictment says Crimiel lied to an FBI agent by claiming he did not use nor have access to a cellphone that was used on the morning of Feb. 13 to make a 911 call to the Lafayette Police Department.
Crimiel’s arrest stems from a joint investigation by the Lafayette Police Department and the FBI.
He initially was arrested on two counts of hate crimes, two counts of criminal damage to property with graffiti, obstruction of justice, communication of false information of planned arson, felon in possession of a firearm and possession of marijuana.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced the indictment Thursday. He did not respond to a request for additional information on the charges Friday.
Crimiel faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of damaging St. James Baptist Church because he allegedly threatened to burn the church and an accelerant was found at the scene, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release late Thursday.
Crimiel could also face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the alleged false statement, the release said.
In January 2007, Crimiel was arrested in the Dec. 31, 2006, death of his girlfriend’s 8-month-old baby, Harmony Rose Ritchey, who suffered trauma to the head.
Officers found the baby unresponsive after answering an emergency call at the home of April Ritchey, the girl’s mother.
A grand jury indicted Crimiel on first-degree murder in April 2007. He pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of negligent homicide in March 2008, according to his plea agreement.
April Ritchey requested the charges against Crimiel be dismissed in March 2007, arguing that she knew Crimiel was innocent.
“He was just as protective, if not more, of Harmony as I was,” Ritchey wrote.
Ritchey suspected someone else in her family was involved in the baby’s death, “due to how upset they were when they heard I was pregnant (by) a black man,” she wrote.
District Attorney Mike Harson has said the incident occurred while both Ritchey and Crimiel were at home.
Both claimed they were together in another room and that the child was fine when they left her, Harson said.
Ritchey was not charged in the baby’s death.
Crimiel received a five-year prison sentence with all but two years suspended.