GOLDSBORO, Pa. — A York County man has been charged with ethnic intimidation, stalking and other offenses related to an alleged campaign of harassment against a local church, according to Newberry Township Police.
Paul O'Neill, 50, of Goldsboro, was charged Monday after an alleged incident at the Slavic Baptist Church of Harrisburg, which is located near O'Neill's home on Maple Hill Drive, police said.
Church administration contacted police on Monday after reading a Google review of the church that appeared to be written by O'Neill, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed by investigators.
The review stated:
"If this isn't the most parasitic church on Earth, I'd like to know what is, and I feel sorry for its neighbors. No taxes, contribute NOTHING to the community, pretend to be Christians, while discriminating against anyone not both Slavic and Baptists...and ruin the local ecosystem. Farce! Do us all a favor, kill each other in a brutal Rus/UKR war and leave the planet better."
While they were still reviewing the report from the church, police said, they received a complaint call from O'Neill, who claimed the church's vacation bible school was creating excessive noise and blocking an entrance to the church's own parking lot.
An officer was dispatched to the church and noted the church's bible school was "peaceful and fun," and that children and teenagers were playing volleyball and using a bounce house.
The officer said the noise level "was no more than an average playground," and that the children in attendance could barely be heard from the porch of O'Neill's home nearby, according to the criminal complaint.
While speaking with police, O'Neill allegedly called the church a nuisance, claimed that the church's sermons were discriminatory in nature due to the fact that they were in Russian, complained that the church did not pay taxes, and stated that church members should go join the fight in Ukraine, according to the complaint affidavit.
The arresting officer also noted in the criminal complaint that since 2015, there have been numerous incidents at the church where O'Neill threatened members with a flare gun, assaulted church members, trespassed, loitered, prowled, attempted arson, and destroyed church property.
As a result of these incidents, O'Neill has been convicted four times, according to police.
When the officer responded to the church on Monday, members reported that on the previous day, O'Neill allegedly stood outside the church, pretended his finger was a gun, and pointed it at children who were attending vacation bible school, pretending to "shoot" them.
The church members expressed their fear of O'Neill due to his previous threatening actions, the police officer reported.
As a result of his history with the church and his actions in the latest alleged incident, O'Neill was charged with felony counts of ethnic intimidation and stalking, misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats and harassment, and a summary count of harassment -- repeated course of conduct.
