WASHINGTON - Stefan Day Rowold, 37, of Wiggins, Mississippi was sentenced Feb3, 2025 to 360 months in prison for vandalizing and setting fire to a house of worship. A jury in the Southern District of Mississippi found Rowold guilty of six counts of federal arson and civil rights charges after a trial in September 2025.

The evidence presented at trial last year showed that on July 5, 2024, and July 7, 2024, Rowold vandalized and set fire to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Wiggins, Mississippi. Evidence at trial also proved that Rowold targeted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because of his animosity toward what he believed to be their religious views. Rowold confessed to police that he broke into the building, vandalized the interior walls of the building with hateful messages, and ultimately set a fire in the middle of the church's multipurpose room. Rowold used the church's hymnals, paintings, and other religious objects as kindling for his original fire. Rowold also confessed that after he learned that his first fire had failed to burn down the building, he broke into the church again two days later to finish the job, after police had attempted to secure the scene. Rowold then set a second fire against a wall inside the church, trying again to burn the building down.

Due to the damage from the fires, members of the church were unable to hold services in their church building for months. At sentencing, the District Court found that the church suffered $176,564.97 in damages. The Court awarded the church $176,654.97 in restitution.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney J.E. Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi, and Special Agent in Charge Robert A. Eikhoff of the FBI Jackson Field Office made the announcement.

U.S. Attorney Kruger said, "This was a deliberate, hate-fueled attack on a place of worship meant to intimidate an entire community. Attacks like this will be met with the full force of federal law. Today's sentence demonstrates our commitment to protecting the right to worship in safety and without fear.

The FBI Jackson Field Office investigated the case, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Mississippi State Fire Marshal, and the Wiggins Police Department.