CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, VA – A black Baptist minister was sentenced to serve two years in prison after he set his front porch on fire and painted racist graffiti on it to deceive police into believing he was the target of a hate crime.
Olander Cuthrell was a music minister at Gospel Shepherd Baptist Church in Chesterfield County. He claimed that he recently had come into a difficult financial situation and wanted to divert attention from himself. So he spray painted the word ‘ni**er’ on both sides of his house and lit his front porch on fire. Cuthrell also reportedly lit a 16-ounce bottle of gas inside a family-owned BMW parked outside the house. After setting the fires, he went upstairs, got undressed and got into bed while waiting for the house to burn down… with himself and family inside.
Cuthrell’s oldest son was alerted to the fire by the family dog and he was able to extinguish the flames on the porch. The car fire burned out on its own.
The incident prompted Chesterfield police and the FBI to investigate the matter as a possible hate crime, and Cuthrell fueled that notion by telling several news outlets he was the victim of a racially motivated attack. The incident caused the FBI to investigate, due to the accusations of a possible hate crime. Investigators became suspicious of Cuthrell almost immediately, after it was revealed that 12 years ago he was guilty of falsely claiming to police he was robbed in order to cover up his theft from a previous employer. He eventually admitted to starting the fires.
Cuthrell was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with eight years suspended. He will likely serve between 11 months to two and a half years.
Supportive families and friends have rallied around Cuthrell, including the pastor of Gospel Shepherd Baptist Church. The pastor has stated that he will allow him to continue as music minister when he’s released.
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