POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – For the second time in less than a year, a Pompano Beach church has been vandalized.
The church said it was notified that the suspect from the first incident was recently released from jail.
Mark Andrew Jones, a pastor at St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in Pompano Beach, showed Local 10 News the damage to the building.
“It took several strikes to make this kind of damage,” he said.
Someone threw a heavy object repeatedly at the church windows and doors, causing about $4,000 in damage.
A very similar incident happened at the church back in September.
After the first incident, the church installed a surveillance system and impact resistant glass, but it wasn’t enough to deter the suspect.
“We had gotten a letter a couple of weeks ago that he had gotten out and we didn’t think too much about it,” Jones said.
Investigators believe it’s the same suspect, Jehu Cadevil.
The September arrest report says Cadevil threw concrete into a glass door of the church. He also hit a bank, and another nearby church.
Less than 72 hours after his release from jail for that September incident, police say he vandalized St. Nicholas again, as well as another church and a business located in the same area.
Surveillance footage captured Cdevil in the act. His motive, police say, is unknown.
Jones says he does not recognize Cadevil.
“We have asked our congregation to pray for him,” he said.
Cadevil is back in jail, where he is facing criminal mischief of a church and violation of probation charges.