Ravelin faces federal judge
By JOHN MANGALONZO
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DAVENPORT — No longer wearing his Des Moines County jail-issued jumpsuit, Kevin Michael Ravelin, the 29-year-old man prosecutors say torched the historic First United Methodist Church in Burlington, faced a federal judge Monday and was read his charges.
Ravelin was picked up from jail at 9:45 a.m. Monday by federal marshals. He was transported to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa in Davenport for his initial appearance and possible arraignment.
Chief Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Shields read the six-count federal indictment and carefully explained each element of each count to a shackled Ravelin.
“I am not asking you to agree or disagree on those charges,” Shields told Ravelin before asking him if he understood the severity of the charges.
A casually-dressed Ravelin, wearing shorts and a gothic shirt with intertwined horned dragons prints, affirmed the judge’s question and asked for a public defender to be appointed to his case.
At the request of the judge, before the proceeding Monday, Terry McAtee, an attorney for the Federal Public Defender’s Office assisted Ravelin during the hearing.
At the end, McAtee was appointed to represent the accused arsonist.
Assistant United State Attorney Joel Barrows came to the courtroom ready to argue that Ravelin needed to be held on a high bond due to the number and seriousness of the crimes he is accused with.
“(This is a) crime of violence and strong magnitude,” Barrows told the judge.
McAtee asked for more time with his client and requested the judge for a hearing on Ravelin’s bond as well as his arraignment.
Shields scheduled a bond and arraignment hearing at 10 a.m. Friday.
Ravelin is being held in federal custody with no bond pending a judge’s decision Friday.
On Aug. 15, a federal grand jury indicted Ravelin with arson for the Methodist church fire at 421 Washington St.; attempted arson of the First Presbyterian Church at 321 N. Fifth St.; two counts of use of fire to commit federal felonies and two counts of the faith-based hate crime obstruction of the free exercise of religion.
Friday, Des Moines County prosecutors dismissed two counts of second-degree arson and two counts of first-degree burglary charges against Ravelin without prejudice, meaning they can refile the charges in the event that a federal conviction is not attained.
Before he was arrested in May, local, state and federal authorities executed a search warrant in Ravelin’s rented room at 235 S. 10th St. where items described as anti-Christian symbols were found.
Federal prosecutors would not comment whether the items played a part in the decision to present the obstruction of the free exercise of religion charges to a grand jury.
McAtee declined to comment pending the outcome of the case.
During that search, investigators seized several clothing items with demonic images, prints, death metal CDs and miscellaneous satanic items.
Ravelin reportedly told his roommates of his non-belief in a Christian God and raised disapproval of Christian churches prior to his arrest in May. Investigators said they were told that Ravelin was dabbling with satanism in 1998.
Ravelin, Des Moines County District Court records showed, initially denied any involvement in the burglaries in both churches as well as the fire when federal and local investigators interviewed him on May 1.
Shortly after a lie detector test the next day, Ravelin admitted to breaking into both churches to look for food. He said he found some hamburgers in the kitchen of the Methodist church and tried to cook it on a gas stove when a nearby cardboard box caught on fire.
Ravelin told investigators that he stomped the box to put the fire out and kicked it into a corner.
He told investigators he left the First United Methodist Church, went across the street to the Presbyterian church and stole some more food items.
Authorities dismissed Ravelin’s statement of what happened after arson investigators found two distinct points of origin of the fire that lead them to conclude that the blaze was not accidental but rather intentional.
Ravelin’s federal trial is set to begin this fall.
Tags: burglary, cate, Food