Originally published 2:22 p.m. Oct. 11.
A suspect has been arrested for allegedly setting a fire at Santa Sophia Catholic Church Tuesday evening that caused more than $200,000 in damage, the sheriff's department said.
Eugene William Volk, 45, was arrested by ATF and Sheriff's Bomb & Arson Unit investigators Thursday at the Campo Road and Conrad Drive intersection while walking less than a quarter mile from the church.
Detectives arrested Volk without incident and he was booked on numerous felony charges including arson to an inhabited structure and vandalizing a place of worship. Bail was set at $500,000, said Detective Anthony Portillo in a statement Friday.
Volk is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment Tuesday. The motive of the act was not known, Portillo told Fox5.
A Boys Scout meeting was being held on a part of the church grounds away from the sanctuary at the time the fire took place but Cal Fire/San Miguel Fire District firefighters knocked down the fire in about 10 minutes and no injuries were reported Tuesday.
To arrest Volk, the lead investigator "developed sufficient probable cause to arrest," the sheriff's department said. Authorities declined to state what evidence led them to conclude Volk committed the crime, Fox5 said.
Mass, funeral services and other functions at the school have been moved to a separate building while repairs are made, Father Jacob Bertand told members of his congregation Wednesday.
In the same email Bertand asked people to "say some prayers for justice as it is needed as well as mercy upon the poor soul or souls who did this damage."
Bertand told NBC San Diego earlier this week that when a person is found and charged and goes through the justice system that "it's something that can be a deepening in their personal and spiritual life, some kind of opportunity for conversion and how they approach things."
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