Texas Man Gets 25 Years in Church Arson Case

A southeast Texas man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges that he burned down a church to cover up a $40 theft.

Twenty-year-old Daniel James Allen pleaded guilty to charges of arson and burglary of a building stemming from a fire last year that destroyed Fletcher Emanuel Church Alive in Lumberton.

Investigators say Allen admitted burglarizing the fellowship hall, taking about $40 from a safe and setting the church offices on fire. No one was injured.

Hardin County District Attorney David Sheffield tells Beaumont television station KFDM that Allen also was sentenced to 25 years in prison for threatening a jailer earlier this year.

Lumberton is about 100 miles northeast of Houston.