He's charged with burning a Black church. Now, he's accused of hurling feces at officers.

Katie Mulvaney, Providence Journal
Updated ·2 min read
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PROVIDENCE – The North Providence man accused of trying to set fire to a Black Pentecostal church is now charged with assaulting correctional officers by throwing feces and bodily fluids at them as they tried to feed him breakfast.

Federal prosecutors have charged Kevin Colantonio, 35, with assault on a federal officer after they allege he threw a coffee cup full of feces and body fluids at two corrections officers on March 4.

Colantonio accused in church burning

Colantonio was arrested Feb. 15, three days after authorities say he purchased $10 worth of gasoline and a butane lighter at Cumberland Farms before walking to Shiloh Gospel Temple at 974 Charles St. in North Providence and igniting several fires around the base of the building.

At the time of Colantonio’s arrest, federal prosecutors reported that investigators had found racist and extremist writings in his apartment.

“Hunt them down. Gun everyone who isn’t white,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter I. Roklan read at Colantonio’s initial appearance in U.S. District Court.

Roklan detailed other alleged writings by Colantonio about burning down churches and targeting nonwhites, exposing a racist, extremist ideology and motive, prosecutors said.

Colantonio pleaded not guilty to a charge of maliciously damaging or destroying property by fire or explosives. He faces a minimum of five years and up to 20 years behind bars if convicted.

At the time, U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha suggested Colantonio could face additional charges, including alleged hate crimes.

The church has been around for 35 years and has about 100 members, most of whom are Black.

Colantonio has been held at Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls since his arrest.

Feds: Cup full of feces, fluids

An affidavit in support of the most recent charge against Colantonio details two unnamed officers at Wyatt offering him coffee around 7:35 a.m. March 4. They said Colantonio retrieved his coffee cup from inside his cell and hurled its contents – a mix of feces and other bodily fluids – at them through the food slot.

In the aftermath, the mixture could be seen on the officers’ uniforms and on the floor outside the cell, the affidavit said.

Colantonio is due in court on the charge Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Already accused of church burning, RI man allegedly threw poop at officers