“It definitely was clear to me that he’s not just out to hurt me, but he wants to kill me,” Sarah Nottingham told ABC News’ “20/20” in an April 25 interview concerning the firebombing of a residence she occupied.
He is Mark Lewis, pastor of the Fellowship Baptist Church in Vacaville. According to testimony at his probable cause hearing in Solano County Superior Court on July 3rd, he told Nottingham, “You have created a monster” after she let him know their dating relationship was over. At the conclusion of the hearing Lewis was ordered to stand trial on charges of arson, conspiracy and stalking.
The Fellowship Baptist Church in Vacaville.
The arson charges stem from a January 9 incident at Nottingham’s parents’ Vacaville home. Details concerning the late night firebombing attack on the Chateau Circle home, in which Nottingham and several relatives were sleeping at the time, emerged during police testimony at a separate Solano County Superior Court hearing on July 2. Soon after a Molotov cocktail got thrown through the home’s master bedroom window, the police had detained and interviewed Anthony Newbolt, 33, and Richerd Wright, 28, both of Sacramento; and Kristen Broyles, 30, a resident of Citrus Heights. All have ties with the Fellowship Baptist Church.
Vacaville police Detective Omir Torres testified at the July 2 hearing that Newbolt stated Lewis had instructed him to go to the Chateau Circle home and “set fires.” In a field next to the church, investigators discovered shattered and blackened glass bottles which apparently had been used for target practice, according to further testimony.
Newbolt, Wright and Broyles will be arraigned on their arson charges on July 14. Lewis will reappear in court on July 18 for arraignment on the arson case.
