Man sentenced to 7 years in federal prison for 4 Tennessee church arsons

A man was sentenced to seven years in federal prison on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to setting fire to four churches in the Nashville area in 2019.

Alan Douglas Fox, a 29-year-old from Tennessee, was sentenced to the prison time and three years of supervised release, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a release on Wednesday. 

Court documents and statements made during the plea and sentencing hearings said Fox intentionally set fire to four churches around the Nashville area: Crievewood United Methodist Church, the Crievewood Baptist Church, the Saint Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church and the Priest Lake Community Baptist Church, according to the DOJ. All four churches had significant damage as a result of the fires. 

All the fires took place in June 2019. Fox pleaded guilty to all charges he faced in Oct. 2021. 

The documents reported that Fox set fire to the churches due to their “religious character,” according to the DOJ. 

“This defendant has now been held accountable for his dangerous arson spree that caused damage to a Catholic church, a Methodist church and two Baptist churches, all pillars of the Nashville community,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

“Attacks on houses of worship are attacks on people of faith that undermine the fundamental right to practice’s one’s religion free from fear or violence. The Civil Rights Division will continue to vigorously enforce federal laws that protect all houses of worship, regardless of denomination,” Clarke added.