Teens arrested in connection with vandalism of historic Rogers church

 Jacob Bilyeu Jacob Bilyeu
Jacob Bilyeu Jacob Bilyeu

ROGERS -- Police have arrested two teens in connection with the vandalism of a historic Rogers church where caretakers found eight windows smashed after two break-ins in July.

One of the teens told police they used the church as a place to smoke and play with a Ouija board, according to police documents.

Arrested were Jacob Bilyeu, 18, of Rogers and a 17-year-old boy. Bilyeu was arrested in connection with first-degree criminal mischief and breaking or entering. The 17-year-old was arrested in connection with first-degree criminal mischief and commercial burglary. The 17-year-old was released to his parents.

Bilyeu told police the windows were broken by accident, according to reports.

Caretaker Jeff Moser said Wednesday he was relieved to hear about the teens' capture in the vandalism of the 1904 Mount Hebron Methodist Church.

"We are tickled to death that they have got them," Moser said. "I don't have to run up there in the middle of the night trying to catch them anymore."

Rogers police responded to criminal mischief complaints at the church July 13 and July 17, according to a news release. Eight windows were broken during the two vandalism incidents.

A girl told police she had been at the church about 4 p.m. July 12 playing on a Ouija board and the teen boys came through the church and threw cinder blocks and brooms through the windows, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Bilyeu later told Rogers police that teens often went to the unlocked church to play with Ouija boards or to smoke and that he'd "gotten high" there before the day the windows were broken, according to the affidavit.

Moser, a member of the Mount Hebron Church & Cemetery Historical Preservation Association, said each of the windows could cost about $2,000 to replace. Association officials are getting an estimate on the damage, he said.

The small association may have trouble finding money to replace the windows, Moser said.

Department of Arkansas Heritage officials visited the church last week to look at the damage, Moser said. The association has yet to hear if the department will have money available to help, he said.

A campaign to restore the church started in the mid-1990s. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The Arkansas Preservation Program through the Department of Arkansas Heritage has given multiple grants for the building's preservation through the years. Grants have been matched by community donations.

Glen Jones, Benton County Historical Preservation commissioner, spent hours at the church Tuesday cleaning it. Jones said his ancestors founded the church.

"Thirty percent of people buried in that cemetery are kin to me," Jones said. "I want the church and cemetery to be preserved."

Rogers police officers were doing extra patrols to help catch the suspects.

"The first time I was there an officer stopped by and asked me who I was and what I was doing out there," Jones said.

The association also distributed fliers in a nearby neighborhood offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandals.

Tips passed along to caretakers from the fliers led to the teens' arrest, according to police documents.

The people who offered the tip didn't want the $1,000 reward, Moser said. Instead, the money will be used to help with the costs of replacing the windows, he said.

While investigating the tips, police found Bilyeu was in the Benton County Jail stemming from a July 27 arrest in Centerton. The 17-year-old boy was wearing an ankle monitor when investigators interviewed him. A parent told police the boy got into trouble in Centerton with Bilyeu and was under house arrest, according to police documents.

Centerton police arrested Bilyeu after they found him and five other teens standing outside a car in the Sienna subdivision at 3:48 a.m., according to a probable cause affidavit. Police found a .22 revolver in a holster with ammunition, other items believed to be stolen and burglary tools. One of the teens told police they had been "flipping vehicles" and the others said Bilyeu had taken the gun from an open garage, according to Centerton police documents.

Bilyeu told Centerton police the group drove through Bentonville and Centerton breaking into unlocked cars and entering garages, according to police documents.

Bilyeu was arrested in connection with two counts of residential burglary, felony theft by receiving and theft of a firearm in the Centerton case, according to jail records.

He was being held Wednesday in the county jail on $22,500 bond.

Bilyeu was arrested July 31 in the church vandalism, while the 17-year-old was arrested Tuesday.

NW News on 08/06/2015

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