2 Teens Arrested in Connection with Indiana Church Fire

July 23, 2010

Authorities have arrested two teen-agers in connection with a fire that destroyed a small church in rural southern Indiana.

Brown County Prosecutor Jim Oliver says state fire marshals arrested 18-year-old Stephen Moore of Columbus and a 17-year-old male youth in connection with the fire that destroyed the Grandview Apostolic Church on July 14.

Moore faces a preliminary charge of conspiracy to commit arson. The Brown County jail was holding him Thursday on $20,000 bond. A jail officer said he did not know if Moore had an attorney.

The July 14 fire completely gutted the inside of the white, wood-frame church, and its roof and steeple collapsed, leaving only some exterior walls standing at the site about 10 miles southwest of Columbus.