3 p.m. update:
Renzo Signorino, 20, Columbus was formally charged on Friday with the following in Bartholomew Circuit Court, all related to the Ohio Chapel Church vandalism:
- Arson, a Level 4 felony
- Burglary, a Level 5 felony
- Institutional criminal mischief, a Level 5 felony
Bartholomew County Sheriff Will Kinman said a warrant will be issued from Bartholomew County for Signorino to be arrested on those charges. The detective said that more than $70,000 in damage was done to the rural Bartholomew County church during the vandalism.
Kinman expressed his thanks to Brown County and Carmel police for their assistance in the case, and to the FBI, the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office and the Brown County Prosecutor’s Office.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Police in Brown and Bartholomew counties have made an arrest in the vandalism of four area churches from last summer.
The break in the case came last week during an investigation into vandalism at a synagogue in Carmel.
Renzo Signorino, 20, of Columbus, was arrested on a warrant in Bartholomew County on Aug. 23.
A 17-year-old girl also is connected to this case and charges are pending, a press release said.
Three churches in Brown County and one in Bartholomew County were vandalized last summer between June 21 and July 7. At the Ohio Chapel Church in western Bartholomew County, vandals also tried to set the church on fire.
The investigation took a turn on Aug. 20 when Det. Will Kinman with Bartholomew County received a call from an FBI agent.
The agent said he was helping with the arson and criminal mischief case that occurred at a Carmel synagogue on July 28, and that two people had been arrested: a 17-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man. The detective said the girl had alluded to possibly doing a similar act in Hope in Bartholomew County.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
