Michigan man charged with setting fire to Planned Parenthood building
By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
Federal prosecutors have charged a 25-year-old man who allegedly set fire to a Planned Parenthood building in Michigan.
Joshua Brereton of Paw Paw, Michigan, was charged with one count of arson of an organization receiving federal funding. If convicted, Brereton faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the Justice Department. The charge also carries a five-year mandatory minimum sentence.
According to court documents, law enforcement responded to a reported fire at a Kalamazoo Planned Parenthood in late July. After the fire was extinguished, the local fire marshal noticed that fires were ignited from two separate sources — in the bushes outside the building, and from a “fire starter log that looked like it had been thrown onto the roof.”
Through the Planned Parenthood surveillance footage, investigators determined that the person who started the fire used a Duraflame log to start the fire on the roof, court documents say.
They then searched store records and learned that Brereton had bought a Duraflame log at a local Walmart less than two hours before the fire. Brereton’s appearance in the store’s security camera footage matched that of the Planned Parenthood, court documents say.
Investigators say they also located Brereton’s YouTube channel, where he posted videos railing against the government, taxes and abortion.
“Like right now, we have a genocide happening,” Brereton says in one video, according to court documents. “Genocide! Of babies! And people think this is always a hot topic. You literally have neighbors who think it’s OK to kill a baby.” He went on to encourage watchers to “change society from the inside out” and told them that “nobody else is going to do it.”
Brereton has not yet entered a formal plea, according to the court docket. A lawyer for Brereton is not yet listed.
The-CNN-Wire
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