N.Y. Electrician Pleads Guilty to Torching Minister’s Van

Queens, New York District Attorney Richard Brown announced that a Queens electrician has pled guilty to arson as a felony in the April 2002 torching of a Korean minister’s church vehicle outside of Manna Presbyterian Church in Flushing and has paid $15,000 in restitution.

Brown said, “The defendant has admitted his guilt, waived his right to appeal, acknowledged that he set fire to the church van and paid $15,000 in restitution. Additionally, he has been ordered to perform 10 days of community service and to serve five years’ probation during which he has been ordered to stay away from the victims.”

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Kevin McKenna, 35, an electrician, of Auburndale, Queens. The defendant pled guilty in Queens Supreme Court to Arson in the Third Degree before Acting Justice Douglas Wong who set Aug. 4, 2004 for sentencing.

According to the District Attorney, firefighters of Fire Battalion 52 in Queens responded to the fire on April 14, 2002 at 10:10 a.m. and found the vehicle, a 1990 Chevrolet van, filled with flames and smoke. Fire Marshals immediately launched an investigation and determined that the fire’s cause was suspicious.

Brown said that the defendant was arrested on Dec. 2, 2003 by Fire Marshals assigned to the Fire Department’s Special Investigations Unit.

The District Attorney said that according to the criminal complaint the defendant on April 14, 2002 at 4:11 a.m. at 170-04 Northern Boulevard in Flushing, Queens – outside of Manna Presbyterian Church — set fire to Reverend Kwan Chung’s 1990 Chevrolet van.