A Darlington man is behind bars for allegedly setting fire Monday morning to a cross in front of St. Bernard Catholic Church.
Dirk Ryan Fyffe, 54, was arrested and jailed later in the day on charges of arson and institutional criminal mischief.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Montgomery Superior Court 2, officers responded to the church at 1306 E. Main St. around 7 a.m. Monday after parishioners and Father Michael Bower discovered the damage.
Crawfordsville Police Officer Judson Grubbs reported that Bower showed him surveillance footage of a dark-colored Chevrolet pickup arriving at the church shortly after 5 a.m. and parking at the front entrance of the church where the cross is located. A man wearing a hat and Indiana Pacers sweatshirt exits the truck holding an unidentifiable item, remains for a few minutes, then leaves.
When parishioners arrive at the church at 6:30 a.m. they observed the damage to the cross. The debris found at the bottom of the cross was believed to be the purple cloth that had been draped around it.
Grubbs presented the video footage to CPD Assistant Chief Ryan Teeter, who identified the suspect as Fyffe based on the vehicle he was driving. Fyffe owns a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado. The video evidence, coupled with Fyffe’s similar pending charges, was enough to arrest him later in the day.
Bower estimates it will cost $1,000 to replace the cross. However, the symbol has a higher sentimental value because it was built by someone who has since died.
On Monday, Deputy Braden Mitchell of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office informed Grubbs that Fyffe is a suspect in another recent church vandalism case. No other information was available.
Last month, Fyffe was arrested on charges of arson and criminal mischief after police received a report of a man in a dark Chevy truck was seen leaving the scene of a residential brush fire on Shayne Drive on April 17. The homeowner told police the fire not only damaged three bushes on the property, but also damaged a water well. The victim reports that repairs to the well will exceed $10,000.
Court records show that when questioned by police, Fyffe acknowledged that he had burned some bushes at the Shayne Drive residence and that he knew the property owner from high school.
During their investigation officers detected an odor of marijuana and observed marijuana and a smoking device in plain view. Fyffe was then arrested and jailed on charges of arson, criminal mischief, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia stemming from the Shayne Drive fire.
