ALLIANCE, Ohio – Another person has been arrested following a burglary at an Alliance church earlier this month.
Police said 19-year-old Delbert Watson, who was has already been charged with breaking and entering, and receiving stolen property, now faces charges for arson.
According to Alliance police, Watson, Mary Watkins, 18, and Zachary Hawkins, 18, broke in to St. Theodore’s Catholic Church on South Linden Avenue and stole a 200-pound metal statue of Jesus Christ. During the break-in, the teens also took several items, including a rosary, a chalice, cruets and candles, police said.
On Dec. 15, Watson used the stolen candles to set a fire at a vacant house in the 500 block of South Mahoning Avenue around 2 a.m., according to police. Investigators said the fire was intentionally set and Watson later confessed.
Earlier this week, Alliance police recovered the Jesus statue after Watkins admitted that she stole it and that it “was just chilling” in the backyard of a vacant house. Wakins and Hawkins were also charged with breaking and entering, and receiving stolen property. Police said that all three of the suspects were cooperative and appeared to be genuinely remorseful for the crime.
Watson was taken to the Stark County Jail and arraigned on Friday.
