Son of sheriff's deputy charged with burning three Louisiana black churches

Holden Matthews, 21, a white resident of St. Landry Parish, the county where the fires occurred, was charged with three counts of simple arson on religious buildings, each count of which carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years, Louisiana Fire Marshal H. "Butch" Browning said. "We are extremely, unequivocally confident that we have the person who is responsible for these tragic crimes on these three churches,” Browning told a news briefing in Opelousas, Louisiana, about 60 miles (97 km) west of Baton Rouge. Matthews, the son of Deputy Roy Matthews of the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office, was taken into custody late Wednesday, about 12 hours after he was identified as a suspect, Browning said.