FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR MONDAY, JULY 8, 1996 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 TWO KLANSMEN CHARGED FOR BURNING SOUTH CAROLINA CHURCH WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal court in Charleston today unsealed a federal complaint and arrest warrant charging two members of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan with burning a predominantly African American church in Greeleyville, South Carolina on June 20, 1995. The investigation is being conducted by the church arson task force formalized by President Clinton last month. Gary Christopher Cox, 23, and Timothy Adron Welch, 24, were charged on May 10, with burning the Mt. Zion AME Church on June 20, 1995. A criminal complaint, signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert S. Carr, of the U.S. District Court in Charleston, alleged that the two violated a federal criminal arson statute. Cox and Welch, who face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, were arrested on state charges in June 1995, and have been in jail since that time. Since June 1, there have been fires at more than 50 churches across the country. Arrests have been made in connection with at least 9 of these incidents, while 9 fires have been ruled accidental. The investigation includes the U.S. Attorneys Office in South Carolina, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Clarendon County Fire Department and Sheriff's Office. # # # 96-329