One of the three men arrested in connection with a March 2018 fire at Destiny Deliverance Ministries in Westover was sentenced on Thursday.
“I am sorry for what happened that day,” Michael Pyles said.
He previously pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact, a misdemeanor. Pyles was sentenced to one year in jail, which Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Susan Tucker suspended for two years of supervised probation, at least $50 a month toward the $16,005 in damage the church suffered, and 250 hours of community service — at Destiny Deliverance Ministries.
“You owe them,” Tucker said. “I personally think doing community service at church will teach you a whole lot more than going to jail.”
The community service at the church was the idea of its pastor, Shirley Robinson.
“This incident that happened to our church was very devastating,” Robinson testified. “It’s only by the grace of God that I was not there that day.”
Robinson said she’s typically in the church around the time the fire was set but she wasn’t that day because she was at a friend’s 25th wedding anniversary.
The fire caused the church’s membership to dwindle, as services had to be relocated to a funeral home, a place many associate with grief and loss, Robinson said. The church couldn’t do activities it normally would on holidays such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. The church was also unable to hold its Christmas play.
She said she didn’t know why people would set a church on fire or think it was right to do so, but she feels sorry for them.
Jordan Lipscomb-Moffat and Joseph Wilson Jr., Pyles’ co-defendants, were each indicted on charges of second-degree arson and conspiracy by the May 2018 grand jury. Their cases are still unresolved and scheduled for trial in August. Pyles was indicted on accessory after the fact.
Robinson said you have to look at the people around you and if they aren’t pushing you toward something good, you need to get away from them.
Tucker echoed Robinson’s “eloquently put” thoughts on friendship and told Pyles that it can be hard to know who your friends are because people can be deceitful and that even she still has trouble with it.
“Everybody wants to be loved and have friends,” Tucker said. “I get it.”
Pyles has cooperated with the investigation in not just his case, but the case against his co-defendants, since his arrest, his attorney Dreama D. Sinkkanen said. She noted he had no criminal history and no substance abuse problems and would be an excellent candidate for probation.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Chad Noel said it appeared Pyles was a suitable candidate for probation and the state would not oppose two years of probation, but recommended the statutory sentence of a year in jail.
