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A federal detention memo names John Jones, 24, as the man who admitted to setting fire to Brooklyn's 173-year-old South Bushwick Reformed Church on June 19 and told investigators he had also attempted to burn a second Brooklyn church.
Prosecutors filed the memo ahead of Jones's expected federal arraignment on Friday, seeking to hold him without bail.
What the memo shows The memo, reported by the New York Post, states directly: "The defendant admitted to committing the church arson for which he has been charged in this case." Jones also told investigators he had recently attempted to burn down a second Brooklyn church.
Prosecutors say they recovered a notebook from Jones containing a handwritten chart organized under violent category headings: "murder them," "kill them," "stab them," "make them pay," and "rape him." The chart included tally marks and repeated misspellings of the word "church." Surveillance, the lighter, the smoke Jones's movements leading up to the fire were captured on surveillance video.
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