SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Federal officials say a Maine man charged with setting fire to a Massachusetts church with a predominantly Black congregation was driven by racial animus.
Dushko Vulchev of Houlton, Maine, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday.
He faces four counts of damaging religious property “because of the race, color, and ethnic characteristics” of those associated with the church, and one count of using fire to commit a federal felony in connection with a Dec. 28, 2020 blaze at the Martin Luther King Jr. Presbyterian Church in Springfield.
An email seeking comment was left with his federal public defender.
