Charges: Man set fire to St. Paul church

A St. Paul man set fire to a church on West Seventh Street on Friday after being banned from the building a few months earlier, according to charges filed in Ramsey County District Court.

Prosecutors on Monday charged Gregory Louis Knox, 27, with first- and second-degree arson for the fire that officials estimate caused about $100,000 worth of damage to St. Mark Evangelical Lutheran Church.

It's the city's first church arson in at least five years, St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said.

According to the criminal complaint, the church pastor told police that Knox had been banned from the church in October after he was suspected of a series of thefts. Witnesses told police that they saw Knox walking to and from the building about the time of the fire, about 7:30 a.m.

Investigators found one fire that started in a church garbage can and quickly fizzled out, Zaccard said. Another fire damaged offices on the second floor of the church's two-story addition.

A voice recording on the church's phone number said Sunday services were moved next door and that the building is currently inaccessible. A restoration fund was set up at the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

Knox, who is in custody, faces up to 30 years in prison and $55,000 in fines if convicted on both arson counts.