A man missing after a south DeKalb County church was heavily vandalized has turned up in the Fulton County Jail charged with criminal trespassing.
Randolph Morgan, 40, who family say suffers from schizophrenia, was on suicide watch at the jail, his sister said she was told by jail officials. Atlanta police arrested Morgan on Friday.
Fulton County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said she didn’t have details of Morgan’s arrest and did not know anything about the church vandalism.
Morgan was scheduled to have a court appearance Saturday morning, but it was canceled because he was still receiving medical treatment, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Morgan was a member of Increasing Faith International Ministries and was suppose to be helping to guard the church against vandalism when the ransacking occurred on Thursday night. Police say someone entered the building and left it heavily damaged. It wasn't the first time the church had been targeted.
Morgan's sister, Inell Gosire, said her brother, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia 10 years ago, isn’t violent. When he doesn’t take his daily medication, he walks around, reads the Bible and preaches, she said. He lived at a mission in downtown Atlanta for several months, Gosire added.
"He has never been destructive," she told the AJC. "He has never torn up anything," Gosire said.
Church members were busy continuing to clean up debris Saturday in hopes of being able to worship there Sunday.
The church on Rainbow Circle had been broken into at least twice before but nothing this severe has ever happened, said Monica Brooks, whose husband is pastor of Increasing Faith International Ministries.
“It’s like a hate crime,” she said. “That’s the magnitude of it.”
Several members have been taking turns providing security at the church, including Morgan.
Morgan's Cadillac was still parked outside of Increasing Faith late Friday morning and his cell phone was inside. A note written on an offering envelope that had the word "Love" circled and at the bottom read "all of you so much" and "thought you cared for me" was found on the sanctuary floor.
Brooks said she did not know if Morgan was involved in the damage done Thursday night but that he has been attending Increasing Faith for nearly eight months. “He’s been faithful," she said.
About 70 to 80 people attend the church every Sunday, she said, adding that the extent of the vandalism is overwhelming.
Every window and mirror was shattered. Thousands of dollars worth of musical instruments were destroyed – the drums slashed and each key on both keyboards smashed.
The pastor’s office looked like a tornado ripped through it with all of the furniture thrown in a heap, Brooks said. The only things that weren’t damaged were the chairs.
“It’s just something to behold,” she said.
Brooks said a portrait of herself and her husband, Pastor Easton Brooks, along with some flags hanging at the church, were the only things missing. An investigation is ongoing.
The controls for the air conditioning unit were also damaged.
Brooks said if the AC wasn’t fixed in time for Sunday’s service, they would rent a tent and set up outside on the church’s nearly 10-acre property.
“This is not going to stop us at all,” she said. “As a matter of fact, we’re more determined.”
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