A Maine man was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on hate crimes charges relating to the arson of a Black church in Massachusetts.

Dushko Vulchev was indicted on four counts of damage to religious property involving fire and one count of use of fire to commit a federal felony relating to a fire at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church in Springfield in the morning hours of December 28, 2020. There had been other fires and damage to church property in the days leading up to the fire. Review of video surveillance evidence identified Vulchev as the perpetrator.

A subsequent search uncovered electronic storage devices belonging to Vulchev which contained multiple images and messages of racial animus toward Black people, including a “White Lives Matter” mural and an image of Adolf Hitler. In interviews persons familiar with Vulchev told law enforcement officials that he frequently displayed hatred of non-white people and routinely referred to Black people with racial epithets.

The charge of damage to religious property carries a sentence of up to twenty years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Use of fire to commit a federal felony provides up to ten years in prison. Vulchev was previously charged by criminal complaint in April 2021.