Vandals hit Forest church

By Carrie J. Sidener
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: July 22, 2008

Someone spray-painted satanic symbols and smashed out the stained-glass windows of a church in Forest, deputies said.

St. John Baptist Church on U.S. 460 in Forest was vandalized sometime between Thursday night and Saturday morning, said Maj. Ricky Gardner of the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office.

Spray-painted on the building were the numbers 666 and upside-down crosses, Gardner said. Five of the church’s stained-glass windows were broken, including one that was smashed with a paint can.

The can leaked and splattered paint on the church’s piano and sanctuary floor.

The paint used was stolen from a shed behind the church, he said.

The damages total several thousand dollars, he said.

Gardner said a cross made of flowers also was stolen from the cemetery and placed upside-down in the doorway of the church.

Gardner said there have been no other reports of vandalism in the area and the church has not been targeted before.

“This is malicious vandalism,” Gardner said. “It is a felony. … It is unconscionable that someone would do this.”

Anyone with information on this crime is asked to call the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office at (540) 586-4800 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 798-5900.