Decatur, USA - A husband and wife who were arrested after disrupting a church service and overturning a century-old altar were released on bond Monday, but two others who were arrested in the incident remained jailed.
Hartselle residents Val Eugene Loughman, 20, Emily Beth Loughman, 21, Adam Joseph Turgeon, 27, and Lisa Marie Wagner, 26, were arrested Sunday following the disturbance at Annunciation of the Lord Catholic Church.
Detective Todd Walker said another girl who was with the group was not charged.
Witnesses said a man and woman came forward, screaming, after the 11 a.m. Mass conducted by Rev. Joe Culotta. The man then turned over the church's cherished century-old marble altar, sending it tumbling down the steps.
It smashed onto the floor and ripped up carpet in front of the first-row pews.
Men from the congregation subdued five people and held them for Decatur police. Walker said no one was injured.
The Decatur Daily reported that the four were arrested and charged with first-degree criminal mischief, a Class C felony. They were taken to the Morgan County Jail and each held on $750 bond.
John and Jeanne Morris and her mother, 88-year-old Maxine Steele, saw the events unfold up close.
Jeanne Morris said the man and woman leapt from their seats, went to the front and stood near Father Culotta.
"They were screaming something about Catholics worshipping idols and other things. I was so stunned, I didn't hear it all," she said. "The man then went behind the altar and pushed it over. If it had not been so heavy and had not gone straight down the steps, someone would have been hurt, probably those little children sitting near us."
Morris said a stoutly built parishioner charged up from behind the man and put his fingers in the loop of his jeans.
"He grabbed the man's hair with his other hand and wrapped it around his hand, subduing him," she said. "My husband grabbed the girl, who had started to run away, in a bear hug."
Culotta said the choir was closing the communion song when the attack began.
"We take a moment to be still and be quiet. When I opened my eyes, I noticed a man and woman sitting in the front pew I didn't recognize," he said. "Ten or 15 seconds later, they came up to the platform of the sanctuary, saying 'This is idolatry, you are worshipping false ideas, and these are end times.' He went in the back of the altar and pushed it over. It was unreal."
Culotta said the man's action is like someone going into your home and taking one of your most prized possessions and smashing it.
"We just had communion at this altar," the pastor said. "They defiled what's sacred to us. It was made from the original altar at St. Ann (the predecessor church downtown). Children were scared, and people were crying."
Culotta would not allow media to take photographs of the shattered altar, which had been moved in pieces to a storage area.
"Photos would glorify violence," he said.
Member Annette Lincoln said when she heard about what had happened, she was glad she went to the 8 a.m. Mass.
"At first, I was scared and I was like 'How could these people do this, and is it going to happen somewhere else?' Then I got mad and wished I had been there. I could have thrown my purse."