ROCKINGHAM — Investigators with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office have charged a woman they say is responsible for setting a fire that burned a church office late last year.
Deputies responded to a fire at Ashley Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, on Mizpah Road, just before 2:30 a.m. Oct. 31 after the East Rockingham and Cordova fire departments were dispatched, according to the sheriff’s office. The two deputies used fire extinguishers from their patrol cars to knock down the flames before the fire department arrived on scene.
It was determined that the fire was intentionally set and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation arson unit and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives assisted in the investigation.
The fire was contained to the financial office at the back of the fellowship hall, damaging a computer, printer and filing cabinets, according to Arallen Jones, one of the church’s trustees.
The pastor’s office had slight water damage from the fire departments extinguishing the fire.
However, the stench of smoke of smoke permeated throughout the church including the sanctuary.
“Some people ain’t got no feelings for God’s house,” he told the RO in October, adding he didn’t think it was racially motivated. “I think they did just for hate, for spite.”
On Friday, investigators charged 63-year-old Sally Denise Patterson, of Lincoln Street, west of Rockingham with setting the fire. Investigators say she was already being held in the Richmond County Jail on unrelated charges.
In the church fire case, Patterson is charged with one each of burning a church or religious building and breaking and entering a place of worship; and one misdemeanor count each of injury to real property and injury to personal property.
Patterson’s bond was set at $75,000 and she is scheduled to appear in court on those charges April 4.
Online court records show Patterson also has pending charges from the sheriff’s office and Rockingham Police Department: four felony counts of larceny from the person; two counts of misdemeanor larceny; and one count of being a habitual felon.
Patterson was previously convicted of second-degree arson in 2014, landing her behind bars for eight months, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction.
She also has a long list of convictions on misdemeanor and felony larceny, as well as forgery and other related charges dating back to 1989, records show.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
