Hammock Tries to Set Fire at Local Church

Gregory Dean Hammock

Fourth-degree arson charges were filed Aug. 19 against a Sallisaw man.

Gregory Dean Hammock, 33, was also charged with two misdemeanors for trespassing after being forbidden and resisting an officer.

The penalty for fourth-degree arson is a fine of up to $5,000 or imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both.

On Aug. 19 around 6 p.m., a Sequoyah County Sheriff’s deputy and two Sallisaw police officers were dispatched to an area church where a man was allegedly trying to burn a vehicle.

When the officers arrived at the scene, they saw a man carrying a gas can running behind the church. They ordered the man to the ground but he became combative. He was eventually placed in a patrol car.

The reporting party told officers he was mowing the church’s grass when he saw Hammock walking across the road with a gas can. He said Hammock began pouring gasoline on his wife’s vehicle, and when he yelled at Hammock, he reportedly became upset and said he would burn himself. He ran behind the church building when law enforcement arrived.

The reporting individual took police to his wife’s vehicle, which smelled strongly of gasoline. When asked why Hammock would do such a thing, he said Hammock had been ordered off the property just weeks before for hitting another member of the church.

When Hammock was taken into custody he was in possession of a red gas can and a butane lighter. The items were taken and logged into evidence.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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