SILVER SPRINGS, Fla. – A 13-year-old boy arrested in Marion County is accused of vandalizing a church in Silver Springs, causing $10,000 in damage, according to the sheriff’s office.
The boy faces charges of burglary to a structure with damage over $1,000 and petit theft, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office described in an arrest affidavit.
Deputies responded Sunday to Saint Mary’s Baptist Church along NE 55th Avenue, where the pastor had called around noon to report extensive damage and stolen items, according to the affidavit. Although the pastor told investigators that there were no cameras on the property, a bystander said there were two unknown boys on the property shortly before the pastor arrived that day, the affidavit states.
On Tuesday, after the sheriff’s office learned that the boys were possibly affiliated with a nearby apartment, a deputy was able to reunite the church with a stolen lawnmower that was “sitting in the grass in plain view” behind said apartment, according to the affidavit.
The next day, a deputy spoke with a woman living at the apartment. The woman told the deputy that her son has several friends who would come over, but she said that she didn’t know anything about the church. The woman soon called the deputy to say that a 13-year-old boy would like to talk.
The boy and his mother were living with the woman, according to the affidavit. He said that he decided to check the church out because another friend had told him it was abandoned and because he had never been in an abandoned building before, the affidavit states.
He told deputies that he visited the church multiple times between Aug. 25 and Sunday, investigators said, adding the damage was caused on Aug. 28.
The defendant went back to the church with another friend, who he only knows as (redacted). While inside the church, (redacted) tripped which caused some damage to the floor. After that occurred, the defendant decided to cause significant intentional damage, to include destroying the walls. The defendant advised he was the only person that stole anything or did any intentional damage. When asked about how much damage he caused, the defendant advised it was ‘a lot.’
Arrest affidavit (excerpt)
The boy told investigators that he planned to sell the lawn mower, according to the affidavit. There was otherwise a loud speaker that the pastor told deputies had been stolen from the church; when deputies asked the boy about the speaker, the boy reportedly said that he found it in the woods and was going to hook it up to one of his own, the affidavit states.
News 6 is not naming or showing the boy due to the circumstances of the case.