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2 arrested after vandals target 19th-century church

Men arrested in Ellettsville church vandalism

News 8 at 10 p.m.

UPDATE: According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, both of the suspects are now in custody.

Investigators say 25-year-old Tyler Price of and 26-year-old Gregory Silvey, both of Bloomington, have been arrested for the vandalism.

Price had 12 cans of spray paint in his vehicle when they found him.

Gregory Silvey (left) and Tyler Price (Provided Photos/Monroe County Sheriff’s Office)

ELLETTSVILLE, Ind. (WISH) – A centuries-old church was vandalized, leaving behind some major damage.

The Old Dutch Community Church just northwest of Ellettsville was tagged from top to bottom.

Centuries-old church vandalized

Jenny Dreasler reports

Many of the people of the congregation that talked to News 8 on Wednesday about the damage called it ‘crude.’

This isn’t the first time the church has been targeted.

Church members actually say this is the third time in the past few years, but this one might just be the worst.

“These people need Jesus, if anybody did, these people do. That’s not fair. It’s not making our church a sacred place to be anymore,” church member Janet Barker said. “It just kind of feels violating. It feels, I don’t know, like someone came in and robbed something from you, took something from you.”

“It makes me feel revolted, nauseous, and very very sad,” said church member Tawana White-Nicholson.

Monroe County Sheriff’s officials believe the church was tagged sometime Monday between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.

The vandals tagged the 19th-century church with graffiti ranging from animals, random letters and genitalia, to messages of hate.

“It’s crazy to see how much graffiti is on here and how horrible that is that somebody would do that. It really is, it’s just horrible,” said church member Luke Todd.

“‘Satan reigns,’ and it had a crown and the ‘666.’ The ‘all-seeing eye,’ ‘the mark of the beast.’ That’s not what this church is about,” said White-Nicholson.

The vandals even tried to spray paint over security cameras.

But that didn’t help because police released images of the suspects believed to be two males in their mid-20s.

The two vandals drove off in what is believed to be an older model Ford Taurus.

While police continue to look for the vandals, members of the congregation hope the two men will try to make things right.

“I would love to see these hoodlums get locked away and all that. But really I want them to feel remorse and see what they’ve done and to see how much they’ve hurt the community and this church,” said Barker.

“You two, I don’t like or approve of your actions, but I love your soul, and you need to repent and find Jesus,” added White-Nicholson.

The church says it plans to paint over the graffiti in the coming days.

But they need to raise $500 in order to meet their deductible to get the church painted. If you’d like to help, the church has more information on its Facebook page.

If you know who did this, call the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office at 812-349-2780.

1 arrested after Monroe Co church vandalized

1 arrested after Monroe Co church vandalized

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