21346: (Hermantin) Sun-Sentinel-Woman charged with assault, questioned about three Pomp (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Woman charged with assault, questioned about three Pompano church blazes

By Lisa J. Huriash
Staff Writer
Posted April 14 2004

A woman charged on Tuesday with aggravated assault at a Haitian Baptist
church in Pompano Beach was being questioned about three blazes purposely
started at two neighboring churches, the Broward Sheriff's Office and the
State Fire Marshal's Office said.

Lucie Eugene, 49, was arrested on various charges for allegedly attacking a
maintenance worker at the Redemption Baptist Church Monday afternoon with an
8-foot metal fence pole and, according to deputies' reports, using the pole
to dent the tailgate of a truck parked nearby. She was also charged with
trespassing and criminal mischief.


The church worker told deputies that earlier Monday, he'd seen Eugene push
out a screen window and then try to hit him with a wooden stool.

For their investigation, authorities said they had recovered fingerprints
from the window that had been tampered with and from the metal pole.

Redemption Baptist Church Pastor Hector Clerveaux said Eugene, whose address
could not be determined, had caused problems at the church before. Police
reports show she was arrested in September and charged with disorderly
conduct.

Clerveaux said Eugene would curse at men doing construction work on the
church property and act as if "she was paying for everything."

"Everyone who worked there was being paid by her," he said. He said she had
the delusion that she owned the church, and that she went so far as to buy a
lock and put it on the front gates so no one could get in.

Clerveaux said the day of the fires at the two other churches, Eugene
grabbed items donated for an upcoming garage sale at the Baptist church and
threw them in a dumpster for no apparent reason.

He said since the fires, "we decided to lock all the doors."

The Baptist church sits along Northeast Third Avenue in unincorporated
Pompano Beach with Saint Mary Coptic Orthodox Church and the Pompano Beach
Seventh-day Adventist Church.

On Monday morning, a smoldering fire was found in a fellowship hall under
construction at the Pompano Beach Seventh-day Adventist Church. Authorities
said they thought the fire was intentionally started, but burned itself out
by the time firefighters responded.

On April 7, the Seventh-day Adventist Church suffered minor fire damage to
the same unfinished fellowship hall. That same day, suspected arson in the
Coptic church next door left the altar covered in soot and the sanctuary
unusable.

Two officials from the State Fire Marshal's Office said the fires were set
"under similar circumstances" from construction materials found at the
scene.

As part of their investigation, authorities said they are also investigating
whether the arson fires are tied to two cases of vandalism reported last
month at Saint Mary's. On March 5, deputies were called to the church after
a deacon found several stained glass windows cracked and damaged.

Charles Possenriede, the Seventh-day Adventist pastor, said on Monday that
he would like some closure to the problems and would like to stop worrying
about another fire.

He said Monday's fire would set the church back in their construction plans.

"This is the worst thing somebody can do, as far as vandalism," he said.
"It's very nerve-racking for the members. It's tough when somebody does
this. You feel violated. It causes a lot of pain and psychologically, you
don't know what to do. The only thing you can really do is pray."

Staff Writer Jaime Hernandez and Sun-Sentinel broadcast reporter Raelin
Storey contributed to this report.




Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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