FLINT – A second suspect is facing charges in connection to an alleged arson at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Flint last summer.
Sonja L. Settles, is being charged with conspiracy to commit arson, aiding and abetting in the malicious destruction of a building by fire, and aiding and abetting the intentional obstruction of persons in the free exercise of their religious beliefs by use of fire, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.
Recommended Videos
Billy Chambers, of Flint, was named in a criminal complaint filed last week as the primary suspect in the fire that set the Dupont Street church ablaze on Aug. 30, 2025.
Surveillance footage at the church on the night of the alleged arson captured a man matching Chambers’ description intentionally setting the fire around 2:15 a.m., police said.
In the minutes leading up to the incident, ATF Special Agent Gregory Lotoczky says surveillance footage shows the suspect making multiple trips back and forth between the area of the church where the fire was started and a field just east of the church.
At 2:11 a.m., the suspect reemerged from the field and approached the church with an object in his right hand, allegedly striking a window with the object before walking back to the field.
A minute later, the man can be seen returning to the church with a red gas can wrapped in a black trash bag and a piece of cloth before emptying the gas can into the window he previously struck. Finally, around 2:16 a.m., the man reportedly returns to the window with an ignition device and sets the church on fire before running back towards the field.
Investigators allege that Settles’ called Chambers’ phone at 1:32 a.m. before the fire was set, connecting to a cell tower in the vicinity of Chambers’ residence. At approximately 2:20 a.m. — just three minutes after the suspect fled the scene of the fire — Chambers called Settles, with cell phone records indicating that her phone was near the vicinity of St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church when the call was placed.
Chambers’ phone connected to a cell tower near his residence more than two miles away when Settles called him again at 2:56 a.m. according to the complaint.
Lotoczky and other ATF special agents executed a federal search warrant at Chamber’s home on June 5, 2025, seizing the clothing and shoes Chambers allegedly wore on the day of the arson. A forensic scientist also found fingerprints that belonged to Settles on on both the garbage bag and the red gas can it concealed, police said.
When speaking with investigators following the search warrant, Chambers maintained that he has never been to St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, which was unable to hold services at the church for approximately two months as a result of the fire, according to the investigation.
Chambers is being charged with intentionally obstructing persons in the free exercise of their religious beliefs by the use of fire; malicious destruction of a building by means of fire or an explosive; and arson in commission of a federal felony offense.