A woman from Texas was sentenced to six years in prison for burning down a Laestadian Lutheran church in Snohomish County in August 2023.
The arson caused more than $3.2 million in damage to the Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church in Maltby and sent one firefighter to the emergency room, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington said in a news release Thursday.
The church has had to rent out a nearby middle school to hold services two to three times a week.
Natasha O’Dell, 38, was arrested in Texas in August 2024 and has since been in custody. She pleaded guilty in April to arson, damage to religious property and obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs — all felonies.
“The scope of the destruction is staggering,” said U.S. District Judge