SEATTLE—A 38-year-old Natasha Marie O’Dell of Temple, Texas, was sentenced Friday, September 5, in U.S, District Court in Seattle to six years in prison for three federal felonies related to the arson at Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church (SLLC) in Snohomish County, Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. O’Dell has been in custody since her arrest in Texas in August 2024.

In April 2025, O’Dell pled guilty to Arson, Damage to Religious Property and Obstruction of Persons in the Free Exercise of Religious Beliefs. At her sentencing U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead said, “This offense was devastating and dangerous. Ms. O’Dell deliberately set fire to a church causing complete destruction. … The scope of the destruction is staggering. You burned down the spiritual home of a congregatio

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