{"id":60567,"date":"2025-02-25T20:23:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T01:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=60567"},"modified":"2025-02-25T20:24:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T01:24:27","slug":"lehigh-acres-pastor-speaks-after-arsonist-burns-down-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2025\/02\/lehigh-acres-pastor-speaks-after-arsonist-burns-down-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Lehigh Acres pastor speaks after arsonist burns down church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A pastor in Lehigh Acres is speaking out after learning that an arsonist set her church on fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cChrist at the Crossroads Church\u201d fell victim to arson nearly a month ago, and the suspect remains at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smoke filled the air, and flames tore through the church, leaving the community in shock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Pastor Zulma Soba of Christ at the Crossroads Church<\/a> was devastated by the arson.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re still in shock. We\u2019re still hurt. It is a process. This was one day at a time, one step at a time,\u201d said Soba. \u201cSome days are better, and some days are not that good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soba has been replaying the events in her mind, searching for answers. Investigators are now focusing on someone who might hold crucial information about the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you target a church, a house of God, there\u2019s something that\u2019s a special kind of person that\u2019s going to do that, and we need to make sure that they\u2019re held accountable for what they did,\u201d said Trish Routte, SWFL Crime Stoppers manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Florida Department of Financial Services Criminal Investigations Division released a video showing a person wearing dark clothing fiddling with a jacket near the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust to see the video gave me chills. One thing is just to think about it, and another thing is just to see it,\u201d said Soba.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A second video shows the person sprinting across the street. Investigators confirmed the person was on church property during the arson. Although Pastor Soba did not recognize the individual, she had a message for those responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe love you, we forgive you; if you did it, just talk to the police, and let\u2019s just figure it out,\u201d said Soba. \u201cLet\u2019s figure out what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

While investigators are unsure if the person in the video is a suspect, they hope the grainy photos will jog someone\u2019s memory. The fire destroyed the chapel, choir room, and sanctuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church is now working with insurance companies to rebuild. Anyone with information about the fire is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS. Anonymous tips are welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pastor in Lehigh Acres is speaking out after learning that an arsonist set her church on fire. The \u201cChrist at the Crossroads Church\u201d fell victim to arson nearly a month ago,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":60568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[2995],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60567"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60569,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60567\/revisions\/60569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}