Man accused of burning predominantly Black church was found with Hitler photo, feds say
A white man accused of destroying a predominantly Black church by setting it on fire in Massachusetts was found with a photo of Adolf Hitler, federal officials said.
The 45-year-old man was also accused of starting a series of smaller fires and slashing the tires of vehicles parked near the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Presbyterian Church in Springfield before it was badly burned on Dec. 28, 2020, according to court documents.
Dushko Vulchev, of Houlton, Maine, was indicted on several hate crimes offenses on Feb. 10, including “four counts of damage to religious property involving fire and one count of use of fire to commit a federal felony,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a news release.
“Mr. Vulchev has been in the custody of state authorities for more than a year. The federal arrest warrant has not yet been executed,” his attorney Timothy Watkins told McClatchy News in a statement. He declined further comment.
Vulchev is a U.S. citizen with Bulgarian national origin who has been convicted in former unrelated crimes, according to a criminal complaint obtained by McClatchy News.
The Springfield church — referred to as “MLK Church” — was named in honor of King’s legacy as a civil rights leader, with “the pastor and nearly all of the congregants” being Black, the complaint says.
In December 2020, small fires were set near the church before the Dec. 28 blaze that “essentially destroyed the building,” according to the complaint.
During the same month, multiple cars had their tires slashed near the church, including one parked at a pizza shop two miles away, according to prosecutors.
Ultimately, the destructive fire ravaged the church . Photos included in the complaint show smoke billowing out of the church’s windows before the inside became charred.
Investigators said they found “the fire was intentionally ignited” and that it “started just outside the basement side door and burned through the door into the basement and up through the main floor of the church.”
Vulchev was caught on surveillance footage in connection to the arson and vehicle vandalism, prosecutors say.
He was arrested by the Pittsfield Police Department, which was aware that Vulchev was being federally investigated, after it received a report about him “driving erratically” on Dec. 30, 2020, the complaint says.
His phone was seized on Dec. 31, 2020, according to the complaint, and location data revealed his device was “in the immediate areas of all four fires at the MLK Church at the relevant times.”
A computer found in Vulchev’s car on Jan. 4, 2021, revealed his repeated use of racial slurs and “animus towards Black people,” according to the complaint, while a search of his phone turned up photographs of a “white lives matter” mural and Hitler in an Adidas track suit.
Investigators said his ex-girlfriend recalled him displaying “racial animus towards non-whites and Muslims.” He is also accused of making violent threats against Black people.
A charge of damage to religious property involving fire can result in up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, if convicted, along with up to an additional 10 years in prison on the charge of use of fire to commit a federal felony.
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Man accused of burning predominantly Black church was found with Hitler photo, feds say."
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