ROME, Ga. — A Rome man was accused of defecating on church grounds and on a church door in August.
According to a police report, officers were called to North Rome Church of God to respond to reported vandalism.
At the church, officers spoke with employees who said they had arrived and “found a large pile of human feces on and against the door to the church” on Aug. 19.
The church’s surveillance footage helped police identify Jon Daniel Shepherd as a suspect.
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Video showed Shepherd arriving at the church the night before, pulling his pants down and defecating on the church door.
Church employees pressed charges and signed a criminal trespass form to bar Shepherd from the property, according to a police report.
Another officer later made contact with Shepherd, who admitted he’d been the one to deface the church door with his own excrement. He told police “he had to otherwise ‘others’ would have killed him.”
Police called for medical personnel to assist and Shepherd was taken to Atrium Health Floyd for a mental health evaluation.
Shepherd was charged with vandalism and was banned from the church property.
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