An Alliance man has been charged in connection with last weekend’s arson attempt at the Community Church of Chesterland, which is hosting two drag events in Geauga County this weekend.
Aimenn Penny, 20, was arrested Friday morning with one count of malicious use of explosive materials and one count of possessing a destructive device.
Court documents say Penny used Molotov cocktails in an attempt to burn down the church.
“As alleged in the charging documents, the defendant used an explosive device to cause harm to a church he found objectionable,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
If convicted, Penny faces a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for the explosive materials charge and up to 10 years in prison for the destructive device charge.
“Violence and destruction are never an acceptable way to express a disagreement with a particular viewpoint,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle M. Baeppler for the Northern District of Ohio. “While, as Americans, we enjoy the right to disagree, doing so peacefully is the only appropriate option.”
The case is still under investigation by the FBI Cleveland Field Office.
The church’s Rev. Jess Peacock arrived at the church last weekend to see broken glass, pieces of burnt cloth and some burn marks on a side entrance door of the church, whose marquee was also damaged.
The Community Church of Chesterland is hosting a “Drag Story Hour” event Saturday and a drag brunch at Element 41 in nearby Chardon earlier in the day.
Both the church and restaurant had been receiving threating and bigoted messages in protest of the events. The arson attempt left minimal damage — some burn marks on a side entranceway — but Peacock believes the arson attempt was also done to protest the drag events.
“I don’t see how you can’t connect the dots,” Peacock said. “The minute we started advertising it we were getting calls, voicemails, emails, attacks on social media, in the hopes, I’m assuming, that we not do this.”
Social media posts suggest that there will be protests from Proud Boys groups outside the events this weekend.
“Somebody else said that, ‘100 people will be protesting your restaurant with our concealed carry permits in hand,’” Element 41 owner Paul Mendolera said.
Despite the harassment and a recommendation from the Chester Township police chief to cancel the drag story hour, the church and the restaurant say they're committed to having the events.
"To not do this, to back down, to cancel, is to give credence to this idea that a small number of people in this country get to tell the rest of us what to do,” said the Rev. Jess Peacock.
The Community Church of Chesterland, affiliated with the United Church of Christ, has had other vandalism incidents since Peacock started working there a year ago. There was a dead animal propped on a door handle and multiple pride flags stolen from the property. Before getting damaged over the weekend, the marquee read: "Please don’t steal flags. Happy to give you one."
