PHILADELPHIA - Repent America (RA) is denouncing the Winchester, Virginia Police Department for again assigning an undercover police officer to secretly record the free speech activities of peaceful Christian evangelists last weekend at the city's annual Apple Blossom Festival, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the city.

An undercover officer secretly records Christians sharing their faith at the 2011 Apple Blossom Festival.

  

On Saturday afternoon during the annual festival, Winchester Police Officer Sergeant Frank Myrtle told street preacher Nathan Magnusen, who was ministering with approximately 50 other Christians, which included local residents, that a man in plain clothes recording with a video camera was indeed an undercover police officer that was sent to capture footage of the Christians as they engaged in free speech. When Magnusen observed the man recording and attempted to take his picture, Sergeant Myrtle advised, "Step the other way; that is an undercover police officer. He's on duty." The undercover officer, and another man who is also believed to be undercover, then left the area upon realization that their cover had been blown.

  

The Winchester Police Department, while targeting the Christian evangelists with their secret recording, also allowed wild and unruly hecklers to harass and assault them as they ministered. One of the evangelists was shoved off of a stool as he was preaching repentance, and another Christian was struck by an object that had been thrown by a heckler. Police did not intervene at any time to stop those acting unlawfully. 

Sergeant Robert Bower records evangelists undercover during the 2010 Apple Blossom Festival.

Recently, Police Chief Kevin Sanzenbacher admitted in a signed affidavit in the case of Marcavage v. City of Winchester that at the 2010 Apple Blossom Festival he "had Sergeant Robert Bower patrol undercover and record any encounters between [his] department and Mr. Marcavage." Sergeant Bower also submitted an affidavit that confirmed the same.

RA director Michael Marcavage was preaching with amplification on the public sidewalk last year when he was confronted by Lieutenant J.M. Danielson, who explained that because one individual was "uncomfortable" with the preaching that he must cease using the device. Lieutenant Danielson then pointed to a section in the Winchester City Code that stated that sounds that "annoy" or "disturb the comfort" of another individual are illegal. Marcavage attempted to contact city officials on several occasions to discuss his concerns about the ordinance and the unconstitutional way that it was being interpreted by law enforcement, but to this date, a response has not been received. As a result of the city's repeated refusal to respond, the issue is now before a federal judge in a case being represented by The Rutherford Institute of Charlottesville, Virginia.

  

"It is an outrage that the Winchester Police Department has decided to again spend their time targeting a group of peaceful Christians during the Apple Blossom Festival. Is free speech the number one 'crime' in the City of Winchester?" Marcavage stated. "Apparently, the thieves and drug dealers have all left the city since the police are instead spending their resources and taxpayer money to conduct undercover surveillance of Christians sharing their faith. I urge the residents of Winchester, as well as those nationwide, to express their opposition to the shameful way that Winchester's municipal government is running the city, which is another example of the police state that America is becoming," he concluded.

   

"For they speak not peace, but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land." - Psalms 35:20

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