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Man charged with mischief in another church vandalism case
Just a week after a suspect turned himself in for a series of local church vandalisms occurring last month, authorities are dealing with another apparently unrelated case.
This time, First Christian Church at 110 S. Indiana St. in Greencastle was victimized when a flower pot was reportedly thrown through a front window of the church in the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 26.
As a result, Jon P. Hall, 38, Greencastle, is facing a Level 6 felony charge of institutional criminal mischief for causing an undetermined amount of damage to the local church.
Hall made an initial appearance in Putnam Superior Court Wednesday afternoon, appearing before Judge Denny Bridges who ordered a not-guilty plea entered on the defendant's behalf.
The suspect reportedly tossed a concrete flower pot through the window about 3:45 a.m. Authorities were alerted when an on-duty Greencastle firefighter called in the nefarious activity occurring from the fire station on the opposite side of Indiana Street.
Oddly, City Police report that Hall himself also phoned in a report of the incident.
When GPD Officer Matt Huffman arrived at the church to investigate, he "heard a thump" near the altar area of the sanctuary.
The suspect had apparently gotten into the ceiling above the sanctuary, and with officers in the building, came crashing through the chapel ceiling, falling face down in the area between the pipe organ and the altar, Officer Huffman's report indicated.
Operation Life paramedics transported Hall to Putnam County Hospital and he was later transferred to Methodist Hospital at Indianapolis with a reported lumbar fracture.
Authorities and church officials are uncertain whether the incident was related to damage that occurred at First Christian two weeks ago when the plexiglass on the church's outdoor bulletin board was smashed.
The earlier cases of local church vandalism occurred Aug. 13 at Gobin United Methodist Church, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church and First Southern Baptist Church.
Last Friday, an 18-year-old suspect, Shea Tahtinen, turned himself in to police in that case.
He faces three Class A misdemeanor criminal mischief charges in the church vandalisms and two Level 6 felony counts of possession of child pornography as a result of the investigation.