Wednesday, April 21, 1999
Ind. man indicted in 10 church fires
Suspect held in Dayton-area burning
BY RHONDA COOK and The Associated Press
Cox News Service and The Associated Press
ATLANTA — A 36-year-old Yorktown, Ind., man with an interest in satanism was indicted Tuesday in the burning of 10 churches in Indiana and Georgia, including one in which a volunteer firefighter died.
Scott Ballinger has been in custody in Indianapolis since February after suffering burns from a fire he allegedly set Feb. 6 at Community United Methodist Church in Brookville, Ohio, 12 miles west of Dayton.
Mr. Ballinger has admitted burning 30-50 churches in 11 states from 1994 to 1998, according to an affidavit by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent Scott D. McCart.
Authorities do not think there was any racial motivation for the arsons; instead, they think the suspect started the fires simply because the churches “had a religious purpose,” said Richard Deane, U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Georgia.
A 12-count indictment charging Mr. Ballinger with seven Indiana fires was returned Tuesday, at the same time he was formally charged in Atlanta with three counts of arson and three counts of destroying religious property.
Mr. Ballinger is in custody at a federal medical facility in Minnesota. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to pursue the death penalty for the death of firefighter Kenneth Loy Williams, 27, of Bold Springs, Ga., who died fighting a fire at New Salem United Methodist Church in Commerce, Ga.
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