Federal supervised release is being extended for a former Springfield man who helped burn down a church in response to the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008.
Benjamin Haskell, who now lives in Vermont, was charged with violating terms of the release in federal court on Friday, including failure to make restitution payments and using drugs.
Haskell and others started a fire at the Macedonia Church of God in Christ, a predominately African American church, hours after Obama was elected as the first black president in the U.S.
The Rutland Vermont Herald newspaper reports Haskell said last week he is once-again making the payments.
His supervised release was due to expire in October but it was extended to 2022.
(Photo Credit: MANDEL NGAN / AFP Getty Images)