A Centralia man was charged with a hate crime after he allegedly burglarized a local church and caused an estimated $5,000 worth of damage in August.
Timothy J. Gemkow, 37, was charged with second-degree burglary, first-degree malicious mischief and malicious harassment, a hate crime. However, Gemkow was a no-show in Lewis County Superior Court on Wednesday after being issued a summons to appear.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer told The Chronicle that there wasn’t any one particular act of vandalism that created cause for a hate crime, rather the fact that a church was targeted was enough to warrant the charge.
The affidavit of probable cause gives the following account of the alleged burglary:
On Aug. 15, Centralia police were dispatched to a reported burglary at the Immanuel Lutheran Church on Scheuber Road North in Centralia.
When they arrived, police learned that a man, later identified as Gemkow, entered the building the night before.
The church’s surveillance video footage showed Gemkow going through the building, breaking pictures, a display case door, a security camera, an AED device and other items.
Additionally, Gemkow reportedly left items strewn about the church and discharged a fire extinguisher in the gymnasium.
Police have estimated the total damage to be in excess of $5,000.
A tip came in to police that reportedly identified Gemkow as a suspect. When police followed up on the tip by contacting Gemkow, he denied ever entering the building.
Gemkow did acknowledge that the screengrab from the surveillance video footage was very similar to him.
Gemkow reportedly eventually admitted to entering the building and causing the damage.
Because of Gemkow’s failure to appear in court, Judge James Lawler issued a $20,000 warrant for his arrest.
