A California pastor suspected of masterminding a firebomb attack on his ex-girlfriend's house last week said on Tuesday that he was completely uninvolved in the blast.
Pastor of the Fellowship Church of Vacaville Mark Lewis told KCRA-TV that he was erroneously accused of committing arson after he was arrested on Friday. According to the Associated Press, Lewis said the three other suspects thought to be involved in the crime wrongly named him as the organizer behind the entire crime.
Lewis was taken into police custody for allegedly committing arson on an inhabited dwelling, conspiracy and stalking. He posted bail on Saturday night, then resumed church services on Sunday.
None of the six people inside the house at the time were injured by the blast, AP reported.
One of the three other suspects, Anthony Newbolt, told KCRA that the pastor did, in fact, put together the plan to throw a Molotov cocktail into the house of his ex-girlfriend, Sarah Nottingham.
"Whoever prayed for it to happen got his wish, you know what I mean?" Newbolt said during a jailhouse interrogation on Monday. "I'm just going to say it like that. The person who did it, admitted to it. And the person who made it happen, bailed out."
Newbolt's girlfriend Kristen Broyles, who is also suspected of being involved in the firebombing, said that the third person arrested, Richerd Wright, was paid to carry out the crime.
Broyles added that the pastor regularly did methamphetamine, which police told KCRA they found at his house, located on church property.
