A Gainesville woman remained in the Hall County Jail without bond on Wednesday, October 9, following a Sunday burglary and fire at a local church.
At approximately 9:50 p.m. Hall County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the 2,600 block of Old Cornelia Highway near Pierce Road to the report of a fire at the Gainesville Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Hall County Fire Services personnel were already on the scene and told deputies that a glass door to the building had been shattered. Deputies conducted a search of the church for suspects inside and located a woman on the floor of a room.
The woman, later identified as Dana Elaine Lawton, 33, of Gainesville, refused commands from Deputies, who were forced to carry her out of the church because of fire and smoke in the room. As Deputies were taking Lawton into custody outside of the church, she attempted to stab them several times with an ink pen. She also spat on two deputies who questioned her as she sat in a patrol car.
Just prior to the church incident, Sheriff’s Office Investigators believe Lawton and an unidentified man opened a storage shed in the 2000 block of Pierce Road with the intent to steal items. When a resident of the area spotted them, Lawton ran to the church and the man escaped into woods.
Lawton is charged with two counts of second-degree burglary and two counts of obstruction of an officer. Additionally, Hall County Fire Services obtained a warrant for first-degree arson.
The case remains under investigation by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.
