Concord Man Pleads Guilty To Torching Pittsburg Church
OAKLAND (CBSSF) -- A Concord man has pleaded guilty in federal court to burning a Pittsburg church in 2010 as a religious hate crime.
Hugo John Scherzberg, 48, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam and will be sentenced by Gilliam on March 28.
The charge to which he pleaded guilty was damaging religious property by means of fire and doing so because of the religious character of the property. It carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.
Acting U.S. Attorney Brian Stretch said that in pleading guilty, Scherzberg admitted to using gasoline and a lighter to set fire to the Church of the Living God, Temple .1, in Pittsburg on March 20, 2010, and causing significant damage to the building and its contents.
Scherzberg said he did so because he believed God had dealt him a poor hand in life, and chose that church because its name included the words "Living God" and it was "readily accessible," according to Stretch.
Stretch said that losses in the fire amounted to $490,000, according to insurance claims, and that Scherzberg has agreed to pay that amount in restitution. Reconstruction of almost the entire building was required.
At the time of the fire, a Contra Costa County Fire Protection District spokeswoman said the blaze was set just inside a window of the church. No injuries were reported.
Sherzberg was also charged with a second count of arson of the church in federal grand jury indictment last year, but that charge will be dropped as part of the plea agreement.
The Pittsburg church is part of the nondenominational Christian network of the Church of the Living God International Inc., based in Columbus, Ohio. The church has also rented space to the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church.
