The Washington Post
Cops Say Man Admits to Church Fires
By Rex W. Huppke
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, February 23, 1999; 10:57 p.m. EST
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- An Indiana man has admitted to
setting fire to as many as 50 churches in seven states,
and claims he began his spree with two others who
helped him burn a church in a satanic ritual.
The arrest of Jay Scott Ballinger of Indiana was made
with the help of the National Church Arson Task Force,
which was formed in 1996 to investigate a series of
fires at Southern black churches, the U.S. Department
of Justice announced Tuesday.
Ballinger, 36, was charged with setting seven church
fires in Indiana and one in Ohio dating back to 1994,
according to a probable cause affidavit filed by the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
However, he allegedly said he set fire to up to 50
churches between 1994 and 1998 in Kentucky, Tennessee,
Mississippi, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Alabama, and other
states.
Ballinger was arrested Sunday after going to a hospital
with bad burns, which he got from one of his latest
Ohio fires, investigators allege. Satanic books and
writings were recovered from his home. Ballinger was
being held in federal custody in Indianapolis.
Two others were charged in one fire: Angela Wood, 24,
of Atlanta, identified in court documents as
Ballinger's girlfriend, and Donald A. Puckett, 37, of
Lebanon, Ind. Wood is in federal custody in Georgia and
Puckett is being held in Indianapolis. All three are
white and most of the church burnings in Indiana have
involved rural white churches.
Judith A. Stewart, U.S. Attorney for southern Indiana,
would not comment on a possible motive. The ATF said
searches of Ballinger's central Indiana residence
turned up a gasoline container and satanic books and
writings.
According to the affidavit, Ballinger said that he and
the others set fire to the Concord Church of Christ in
January 1994 after engaging in a satanic ritual at
which Wood painted an upside-down cross on the steps of
the Lebanon, Ind., church.
Investigators said Wood admitted she was present for
several fires.
After a Feb. 6 church fire in Brookville, Ohio,
authorities say a radio call for medical assistance was
made from the Ballinger house in Yorktown, Ind. An
officer who recognized Ballinger's name from a church
arson investigation interviewed Ballinger's father, who
said his son was badly burned when he came home early
on Feb. 7, authorities said.
� Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
