Suspect Admits to Dozens of Church Arsons, Police Say

In what could prove their biggest dent in a five-year spate of church arsons, federal authorities said Tuesday that an Indiana man has admitted to burning as many as 50 churches.

The suspect, 36-year-old Jay Scott Ballinger, has been charged with arson in seven church burnings in southern Indiana--five of which destroyed the structures.

An eighth church fire less than three weeks ago in Brookville, Ohio, near the Indiana border, led to Ballinger’s apprehension. Just hours after the blaze, a police officer overheard a radio request for medical assistance at the home of Ballinger’s parents and discovered that he had been badly burned but was refusing to go to the hospital.

Law enforcement officials said they believe Satanism may have played a part in the arsons. Ballinger’s girlfriend, charged in one of the blazes, allegedly admitted that she wrote satanic symbols on a church porch before Ballinger set it ablaze. And a search of Ballinger’s home revealed satanic books, notes and writings, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Indianapolis, where Ballinger was being held.

Ballinger’s arrest could prove crucial in reversing an alarming rise in church burnings, numbering nearly 700 since 1995.

Under the direction of a national task force dedicated to ending the crimes, which President Clinton called “a depraved act of violence,” authorities have arrested more than 300 people in connection with various arsons. But none has approached the scale of the Indiana case.

“This is by far--by far--the largest number [of arsons] attributed to one person or a group of people that I know of,” said FBI national spokesman Tron Brekke. “And it would potentially explain why we had a number of arsons in one particular area at times--three or four in one night, and then nothing.”

In interrogations conducted last weekend, Ballinger “admitted to setting a total of approximately 30 to 50 . . . church fires in Indiana and various other states,” authorities said.

Officials noted in the affidavit that there have been more than 100 church burnings in recent years in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama. Ballinger is believed to have traveled in all of those states in recent years, and authorities are seeking to determine if he can be linked to any of the fires in those areas.

Authorities in Georgia said Tuesday that they are keenly interested in the Ballinger case and are working closely with investigators in Indiana. There have been at least three recent church fires in Georgia, including a Banks County blaze that killed a firefighter.

Ballinger’s girlfriend, 24-year-old Angela Wood, was in custody in Georgia on an arson charge related to one of the Indiana fires. A second alleged accomplice, 37-year-old Donald A. Puckett, was also charged in one of the blazes.

The Rev. Terrance Mackey, president of the National Coalition for Burned Churches in South Carolina, said: “If [Ballinger] really admitted to burning 50 churches, it’s remarkable to think he could do it and never be caught. It blows my mind.”

But as significant as the arrest could prove, Mackey said, “I don’t think we should relax ourselves and think we finally have this over with. We’re talking hundreds and hundreds of churches burned.”

For congregants at Bethel Mission Baptist Church in Putnam County, Ind., one of the seven churches Ballinger is charged with burning, there was “a tremendous sense of relief” upon learning of the arrest, said Roger Bailey, chairman of the church’s board of deacons.

Although churchgoers were drawn together by the fire in November 1998, they had also been left searching in vain for answers, he said.

“We wondered if they would strike again. So there was relief today,” Bailey said.

The church will hold its first service in the repaired sanctuary on Sunday.

Although black churches have been hit particularly hard by the recent spate of arsons, most or all of the churches in the Ballinger case had predominantly white congregations, said Judith A. Stewart, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of Indiana. Ballinger is white.

“We aren’t able to speculate on any type of motive at this point, and I wouldn’t want to imply that there was any racial motive,” she said.

Prosecutors plan to bring the case before a federal grand jury.

Bill Lann Lee, acting assistant attorney general for civil rights, praised the work of law enforcement officials in investigating the church burnings and promised that authorities “will not let up.”

The fires, Lee said, “may have scorched the structures but they did not sear the spirit of the communities in which the churches are located.”

Times staff writer Judy Lin contributed to this story.