DOUGLAS, Ariz. — On May 22, 2023, 58-year-old Eric Ridenour burned down two churches in Douglas, Arizona's historic Church Square. Now, he could be facing decades in prison.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said it was "because of his hostility towards their practice of having women and members of the LGBTQ community serve in church leadership roles."
Church Square was a unique feature of the city, often cited as the only intersection in the nation that contained churches from four separate denominations — Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist.
The fire caused the roof of one church to collapse and the structure of the other church was almost completely destroyed, court records show.
Investigators at the scene found a bottle of lighter fluid near the altar of one of the churches, suggesting that the fire was intentionally set.
Surveillance video recovered from a nearby business showed a man in a blue Pontiac Aztec parking near the church shortly before the fire started. Investigators discovered that the only blue Pontiac Aztec registered in Douglas belonged to Ridenour, records show. He was arrested the following day.
During the trial, it was established that Ridenour intentionally started fires in Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church and the adjacent First Presbyterian Church. He was recently convicted on July 11, 2024.
"Religious freedom is sacrosanct in America," said United States Attorney Gary Restaino. "Arson of a church is deplorable. Arson motivated by objections to the religious principles of a church’s congregation is worse. Many thanks to Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church and First Presbyterian Church, and their parishioners, for their collective courage in responding to this hate crime."
Ridenour was found guilty of six arson and hate crimes counts, some of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He's scheduled to be sentenced in October.
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