GULFPORT, Miss. (WJTV) – A federal jury in Gulfport convicted a man on six counts of federal arson and civil rights charges for vandalizing and setting fire to a church.

On July 5, 2024, and July 7, 2024, prosecutors said Stefan Day Rowold vandalized and set fire to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Wiggins. They said evidence showed that Rowold targeted the church because of “his disagreement with what he believed to be their religious views.”

Authorities said Rowold admitted to breaking into the building, vandalizing the interior walls of the building with hateful messages, and setting a fire in the middle of the church’s multipurpose room so they could not hold services. They said Rowold used the church’s hymnals as kindling for his original fire.

Investigators said Rowold also confessed to breaking into the building two days later to finish the job. The second time he broke in, authorities said Rowold set another fire using cardboard and a piece of firewood.

A sentencing hearing is set for January 14, 2026. Rowold faces a minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each of the arson charges, a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the civil rights charges, and a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison for the use of fire to commit a federal felony offense.

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.