Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Firebombing Church Over Drag Queen Events

An Ohio man pleaded guilty to throwing Molotov cocktails at a local LGBTQ-affirming church that was hosting two drag events earlier this year.

Aimenn D. Penny, 20, of Alliance, pleaded guilty on Monday to violating the Church Arson Prevention Act and using fire and explosives to commit a felony on March 25 when he tried to burn down the Community Church of Chesterfield. Penny admitted he firebombed the church using homemade Molotov cocktails because he was angered by two upcoming drag events hosted by the church and its support of the LGBTQ+ community.

“Attempting to burn down the Community Church of Chesterland for their support of the LGBTQI+ community is reprehensible,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement. “There is no room in this country for such bias-motivated violence and terror, and the Justice Department will continue to protect all Americans in their free exercise of religious beliefs by vigorously prosecuting those who target houses of worship.”

“Mr. Penny admitted to attempting to burn down a church because he did not like the way congregants chose to express their beliefs,” Matthew G. Olsen, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement, adding that Penny’s “acts of extremist violence are antithetical to core American values.”

The FBI alleged in an affidavit that Penny was connected with the White Lives Matter group and was present at a controversial protest of a similar drag event in Wadsworth on March 11 “wearing military-style gear including camouflage pants, a tactical vest, and jacket with a patch showing a firearm.” The FBI described White Lives Matter as “a group with racist, pro-Nazi, and homophobic views” and said members of the group were present at the March 11 protest in Wadsworth “carrying swastika flags and shouting racial and homophobic slurs and ‘Heil Hitler.” The FBI included in the affidavit a picture of Penny at the Wadsworth event.

Angered when the church announced plans to host two “Drag Queen Story Time” events on Saturday, April 1, Penny later admitted to making Molotov cocktails and using them to firebomb the church with the goal of intimidating the church into canceling the events.

“Penny stated that night he became more and more angry after watching internet videos of news feeds and drag shows in France and decided to attack the church,” admitted to the FBI in a recorded interview after his arrest. “Penny stated that he would have felt better if the Molotov cocktails were more effective and burned the entire church to the ground.”

Penny was arrested on March 31 and formally indicted by a federal grand jury on April 20.

“By pleading guilty, Aimenn Penny has admitted that he attempted to burn down the Community Church of Chesterland because he disagreed with a planned LGBTQI+ event,” U.S. Attorney Rebecca C. Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio, said in a statement. “Violence is never appropriate to settle differences in beliefs.”

Penny is due back in court for sentencing on January 29, 2024. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for violating the Church Arson Prevention Act. For using fire to commit a federal penalty, he also faces a mandatory 10-year prison sentence to run consecutively with any other prison term.