Teens, who paintballed church, ordered to attend worship services for one year

Three Williamsburg teenagers, who say they didn’t mean to damage a local church with paintball guns nearly a week ago, and admit they acted foolishly and are pretty bad shots, will be spending the next year in church on Sunday mornings.
As part of their plea agreement Monday morning, the teens will also be appearing before the congregation of Calvary Missionary Baptist Church Sunday morning to publicly apologize, and will become quite familiar with church grounds over the next year, which they will be required to keep mowed and cleaned up.
“I’d just like to tell everybody we are sorry. It wasn’t any malicious act of vandalism. We were playing a game where we weren’t supposed to, and got careless. It ended up causing some damage, and a lot of problems that should have never happened in the first place,” Brandon Bunch said following the hearing.
“I never intended for it to go that far,” noted Jonathan Moses. “It was just a lack of judgment in the area we were playing in. It was stupid, and we are bad shots.”
Bradley Jones added he would “like to let everybody know he is sorry for his stupidity.”
On Jan. 22, Williamsburg Police Officer Tresa Gray charged Jones, 19, and Bunch and Moses, who are each 18, with first-degree criminal mischief, first-degree criminal trespass, and disorderly conduct in connection with an incident earlier that morning at Calvary Missionary Baptist Church.
“The whole back of the church wasn’t anything but colorful spots from paintballs,” Gray said. “They have two big air-conditioning units that cost $10,000 each, and they had shot that.”
All three entered Alford pleas Monday to second-degree criminal trespass charges in exchange for a probated 12-month jail sentence. The remaining charges were merged into the criminal trespass charge.
“We never intended to hit it. We just got caught up in the moment shooting at each other. When we ran past, we shot at them, and they missed. The bullets just kept on going straight. We never meant to do it. We are just poor shots, and used a lack of judgment,” Moses said.
Whitley County Attorney Paul Winchester said he feels this is an appropriate resolution to the case.
“I thought it went really well. The church was satisfied. I think the boys have learned a lesson, and hopefully, they will even learn some more since they will become involved with the church. It may end up better all the way around,” he noted.
“From talking to them, and the police, and the pastor, I don’t think they intended it to be as bad as how it ended up being, but now they have learned a lesson from this, and to be very careful with those things. They can cause damage, and it can be significant damage.”
In addition to their other punishments, the teens were ordered to pay $3,500 to the church. $3,000 of the restitution is to cover damage to the air-conditioning coil, which must be replaced in one unit, and $500 is to cover work Williamsburg firefighters did to spray the paint off church walls and the parking lot the day of the incident. The money is to be paid by Friday.
The teens must attend a church of their choice every Sunday morning for the next year. One teen, who works every other Sunday morning, was ordered to attend worship services on either Sunday evening or Wednesday night on the weeks he couldn’t go Sunday mornings.
The paintball guns and confiscated ammunition will be forfeited to police.
Ballou also ordered Moses to obtain his GED as part of his plea deal.
“You made a mistake. It is time to pay the price. When you do, it is over and done. Good things can come out of it. You are going to get a GED out of it,” Ballou told Moses. “The church is going to get their maintenance – lawn and so forth – taken care of for a whole year. You boys are going to go to church for a whole year, so some good things can come out of this.”
“These boys are forgiven on our part,” noted Pastor Fred Powers, who was in court for Monday’s proceedings.
Editor’s note: Robert Brandon Bunch, the 19-year-old son of Nancy and Robert Bunch of 100 Rabran Avenue of Corbin is not the same Brandon Bunch listed in this story.