Four members of a Colorado Springs church who the Fourth Judicial District’s chief judge called “pillars of the community” were sentenced Wednesday to unsupervised probation for several charges including felony burglary.

After being convicted of second-degree burglary, first-degree trespassing, and second-degree tampering last October, per court records, Colorado Springs Fellowship Church members Matthew Brown, Eric Jenkins, Willie Pee and William Williams were sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation by Fourth Judicial District Chief Judge William Bain Wednesday afternoon.

Brown and Jenkins, according to court records, were also convicted of conspiracy to second-degree burglary. Court records indicate all the cases were appealed, but that they were closed Wednesday.

The convictions and sentences stemmed from an August 2020 incident during which church members, accompanied by a locksmith, attempted to reclaim property and assist a family in moving out of an apartment the church leased, due to members of the family allegedly violating terms of the lease.

When church members went into the apartment, according to arrest and court records, the situation escalated into two of the family members allegedly displaying a firearm and a baseball bat, prompting the parishioners to retreat and call police. The church’s members were later arrested, but court records do not indicate any members of the family were.

In February, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the church alleging selective law enforcement and religious freedom violations by the city, its police department, the district attorney’s offic, and officials and an officer of those agencies. In an order filed Feb. 14, United States District Judge William Martínez granted a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by the church without prejudice, making it and remaining claims eligible to be re-filed.

The “fatal fact and the reason you’re here,” Bain told Brown, Jenkins, Williams, and Pee on Wednesday, “is the lock changing.”

“[It] wasn’t just moving furniture, and even if it was just moving furniture and not evicting them, you still need a court order,” he said, adding he “can’t imagine the fear” the family felt when they realized they were being kicked out of their home right then.

But Bain said that while he was not condoning what happened, the church members were “pillars of the community” who had done “amazing” things for it, and that he wasn’t going to order punishment beyond the unsupervised probation, court costs, and effects of the convictions themselves.

“The class-three felony, not having jobs … for four people who have never been in trouble, that is a huge sentence,” he said, referring to the church members’ lack of criminal records. “I don’t see folks like you in my courtroom very much.”

All four defendants spoke at the sentencing, in part expressing their bewilderment over the fact they were the defendants in the case.

“I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that we are here when we do so much for this community,” Pee said. “We do good, and were rewarded evil for that.”

Williams noted that all four had at some point been recipients of the church’s “Loving Kindness” outreach program, and were active in reaching out to the community, specifically providing support to people experiencing homelessness in Dorchester Park.

Colorado Springs Fellowship Church, in the Windchime Center.

Debbie Kelley, The Gazette