Local News

Family: man charged in church fire is mentally ill

Posted: 12/03/12 at 5:05 am
Tags: mentally ill   Church fire   Brewster   Adam Finnegan  

BREWSTER, Mass. (AP) -- The family of a man charged with burning down a church on Cape Cod says he is "mentally ill."

Twenty-nine-year-old Adam Finnegan is accused of setting the fire that destroyed the Cape Cod Bible Alliance early Friday morning in his hometown of Brewster. He's being held on $10,000 cash bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in court Monday on one count of burning a building.

Finnegan's family issued a statement Saturday saying he has been in and out of psychiatric care. They also say he's an example of how the country's mental health care system is broken, because doctors and local authorities have said there is nothing more they can do for him.

The church planned to hold services on Sunday at a local elementary school.

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