A Rockville man pled guilty last Friday to three charges related to vandalism at Faith United Methodist Church earlier this year. The repeated acts of vandalism took place between May 25 and September 6 at the church, which is located at 6810 Montrose Road in Rockville. Under a plea agreement reached with the Montgomery County State's Attorney's office, Joshua Delaney received a suspended jail sentence of one year and five months.
Because the church asked Montgomery County District Court Judge John C. Moffett to not send Delaney to jail, Moffett instead issued a sentence of three years' probation, 40 hours of community service, and $711 in restitution to the church. The judge also issued protective orders barring Delaney from contacting the church, or trespassing on the church property. Moffett additionally imposed a therapy requirement.
If Delaney meets the other terms of his sentence, his probation will become unsupervised. According to Maryland court records, he pled guilty to malicious destruction of property valued under $1000, race/religious harassment and antagonism toward a religious institution, and theft of property worth less than $100.
The Faith UMC Church Council announced this morning that it will donate the $711 in restitution it receives from Delaney to Rainbow Place Shelter in Rockville, in support of its work to open a shelter for unhoused LGBTQ youth. Faith UMC celebrated 60 years of worship in Rockville this past September.
Photo courtesy Faith UMC
Apparently, the vandal is a 'Spelling Bee' champion.
ReplyDelete