> ### Judge denies freedom for man charged in 17 Florida church fires

> Sunday, May 26, 2002

> Associated Press

> GAINESVILLE — A federal judge denied a request to free church arsonist Patrick Lee Frank from a government-run medical center.

> U.S. District Judge Maurice Paul on Friday said Frank, who is a paranoid schizophrenic, hasn't shown significant improvement and has failed to prove his release "would not create a substantial risk of bodily injury to another person or serious damage of property."

> Frank's mental health problems were in "significant remission" according to a medical report, said Assistant Federal Public Defender Tom Miller. The reports showed Frank was no longer a danger to others, Miller said.

> Frank, 51, was accused in 1991 of setting 17 church fires in Gainesville, High Springs, and Ocala. One was Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Gainesville, which was destroyed. Frank was found not guilty by reason of insanity on the charges in 1993.

> Frank has lived in the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo., for almost a decade.

> Doctors have said Frank lived in an unreal world where his mind was controlled by churches. He burned the buildings to fight back, they said.

> Frank told investigators he burned too many churches to remember all of them. It's estimated the fires caused about $10 million in damage. No one was injured in any of the fires.

> © 2002 Naples Daily News. All rights reserved.
> Published in Naples, Florida. A Scripps newspaper.