(credit: CBS)
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 45-year-old Maple Grove man has been charged with vandalizing a Maple Grove church, writing anti-gay marriage slogans and bible verses on the building.
Lonny Lloyd Roseland, who’s wheelchair-bound, was charged with third-degree damage to property and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanor offenses.
According to the complaint, Pilgrims United Church, an institution supporting gay marriage located at 8801 Rice Lake Road, was vandalized four times.
Around June 2, eggs had been thrown at the building, and the words “Church of Sodom” and “Church of Gomorrah Lev 18:2″ were written on each side of the entrance to the church in black marker. The church pastor said the bible verses were meant to be against homosexuals.
Another bible verse was written on the church on June 8, and on June 30, “Gay Pride? No! Shameful Sodomites! Jude 7. Love cult! Matt 7:21-23″ was scrawled in black crayon on each side of the doorway. Handcuffs also locked the entry way door, and egg yolk was dripping on the entry way glass and sidewalk.
On July 26, authorities placed a camera on the outside of the church, and on July 28, the establishment was egged and vandalized again.
Video surveillance footage of a man in a wheelchair and a canvas sweep of the neighborhood led police to the home Roseland. The wheelchair-bound man admitted that he vandalized the church using colored crayons and eggs.
He said he has a bias toward gay marriage and that “any church that recognizes gays can be married in the eyes of God is not a church but a cult.”
