J Young Christ-Stain of the Day: Houston Pastor Sentenced for Arson
Yang, AthD (h.c), Kicking AWOL's Cocaine Snorting Ass
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3876097.html
Apologetic pastor gets 10 years in church fire
Minister is also fined for arson and insurance fraud
By PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
A pastor who recruited a homeless man to burn his east Harris County
church apologized to his family and a judge Friday before being
formally sentenced to prison.
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After four hours of deliberations, a jury agreed that Roger Marcus
should be sentenced to 10 years for insurance fraud and seven years
for arson for a fire that gutted his Blessed Again Ministries Church
and its thrift store last year. The sentences will run concurrently.
Marcus, 55, of Baytown, also must pay fines totaling $20,000. Local
authorities also will ask the state parole board to require him to pay
$300,000 in restitution to other business owners who lost their
savings as a result of the fire if he is granted parole.
Before being sentenced, Marcus told state District Judge Caprice
Cosper that he does not understand the faulty decisions he has made at
times.
"My wife and my family have suffered," he said. "This is not the first
time I have brought harm and hurt to my family. I am not pleading
insanity ... I apologize, and I ask you to help me."
Attorneys on both sides said Marcus had become financially desperate
in the weeks before the fire. Within 10 days of the blaze, he admitted
his role, saying he "just wanted the stress to stop." He later
recanted, however, saying he had felt pressured by investigators.
The two-alarm fire in the 14100 block of the East Freeway on April 19,
2005, caused more than $1 million in damage, the Harris County Fire
Marshal's Office said. No one was hurt.
The fire gutted not only the church and thrift store, but several
other businesses in the shopping center, including a pain clinic and a
pharmacy. One man who had a lease-purchase option on the building
estimated he lost more than $400,000.
A homeless man who frequented the thrift store, Quinton Fontenette,
28, later revealed that Marcus had offered him some used tools and a
nominal sum of cash to burn the building. Fontenette, who has pleaded
guilty to arson and is awaiting sentencing, testified against Marcus.
The defense asked the jury to consider probation, but prosecutor
Lester Blizzard suggested that less than 15 years in prison would be
an injustice. He said the evidence was overwhelming and that Marcus
had taken advantage of the trust placed in him.
While some witnesses told of allegations of previous misdeeds by
Marcus when he worked at Harvest Christian Academy in Pasadena,
defense attorney Michael E. Barrow said those were not proved.
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Yang
a.a. #28
AthD (h.c.) conferred by the regents of the LCL
a.a. pastor #-273.15, the most frigid church of Celcius nee Kelvin
EAC Econometric Forecast and Sorcery Division
The Bush 'balanced' budget: 2 trillion and worsening
The Bush 'economic' policy: 12.5 million FEWER jobs than Clinton and counting
The Bush Iraq lie: -2454 GIs, one friend's co-worker's son and mounting
Having Bush fuck up my country: Worthless
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"Ahhhhhh, yessssssss, ummmmmmm - Alito, Alito, Alito"
-duke (duck...@cox.net), aka PedophilEarl J Weber, 59
year old mateless, heirless biological failure
of Afton Oaks Apartment, Baton Rouge,who pussied
out of the Vietnam draft, showing his gay side
despite his avowed anti-gay bigotry
Contact duke's priest and ask
him why duke is such a racist:
http://www.stpatrickbr.org/
Father Gerard "Jerry" Martin
stpatrickbr<AT>bellsouth<DOT>net
Saint Patrick Catholic Church
12424 Brogdon Lane
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70816