Arson, Racist Graffiti, Nazi Swastikas, KKK Signs, Written by BLACK Church Employee who Burglarized the Church

A church maintenance worker has been charged with arson after setting a fire at Concord Cultural Center and spray-painting racist graffiti on the front of the adjoining church in an effort to cover up his burglary, said Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.



Nathaniel D. Nelson, 48, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City. Nelson remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing.



Nelson was a member of the church who was employed as a maintenance worker at the church and cultural center, located at 11040 W. Longview Pkwy.



Firefighters were called by a church employee and responded to the cultural center on Sunday morning. A fire had occurred in an office inside the building but a sprinkler had activated and extinguished the fire prior to the arrival of firefighters. Investigators concluded that an office chair and other ordinary combustible material had been intentionally ignited using an open flame.



Investigators also discovered racist graffiti spray-painted on the front of the church. A racial slur, the letters “KKK” and a symbol similar to a swastika were visible from the main entrance into the parking lot as members of the congregation arrived for church for Sunday morning services.



The digital video recorder for the video surveillance system that monitored the foyer area and the cultural center’s interior and exterior cameras was unplugged and no longer recording when examined by investigators.



Investigators determined that the DVR system lost power sometime after 1 a.m. Sunday and had been intentionally unplugged.