Warren man pleads guilty to defacing predominantly Black church in Roseville

DETROIT — A Warren man pleaded guilty Dec. 3 in U.S. District Court in Detroit to spray-painting racist graffiti on a predominantly Black Roseville church.

David Bluer, 34, took a deal where he pleaded guilty to count one, damage to religious property, in order to have count two, federally protected activities, dropped. Federally protected activities, in this case, means a threat of force that interferes with someone’s enjoyment of a facility provided by a state or local government, and in this case applied to a Warren park. Bluer faces up to a year in prison with the deal. He is scheduled for sentencing March 19.

The plea agreement states that Bluer hired two accomplices to carry out the vandalism on Greater New Life Church near 10 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue Oct. 24, 2021. Bluer painted a swastika, the word “die” and his first initial on the church, according to the plea agreement, and the two accomplices added swastikas and their initials in paint. Bluer was charged with the offenses March 13, 2024.

“The defendant planned and led the vandalism, and intentionally defaced and damaged the church because it serves a predominately Black congregation and has a Black pastor,” the plea document states.

Count two stems from a separate incident where Bluer vandalized Trombly Park in Warren, according to the plea agreement. Bluer spray-painted racist symbols and wrote racist language in a bathroom at the park. One message read, “DaviD kills” followed by a racial slur, according to the plea document.

The Rev. Darnell Moore, of Greater New Life Church, called the plea deal that Bluer took a “slap on the wrist.” Moore, who was the pastor at the church when the vandalism occurred, said his congregation was taken aback and hurt by it at the time.

“You just try to do work in the community, and for that to happen, it’s like, ‘Wow, why?’” Moore said.

Moore said the church tries not to dwell on the past.

“We’re reaching for stuff that’s in front of us,” Moore said. “It happened in the past; we’re going to try to leave it in the past.”

Moore had a message for Bluer: “Turn your life around and seek God.”

Brandy Robinson, a public defender and Bluer’s attorney, declined to comment about the case.

This was not Bluer’s first brush with the law. According to an Oct. 11 court filing from U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison and Assistant U.S. Attorney Frances Lee Carlson, Bluer was 24 years old when he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault. A document by Bluer’s attorney states this was the result of a drunken fight.

Bluer fell asleep with a gun while drunk in a car Aug. 22, 2020, and was arrested by Madison Heights police, according to the filing. He was sentenced to six months of probation March 29, 2022, for carrying a concealed weapon. While out on bond for this offense, he was arrested for a home invasion in 2020, according to the filing.

He pleaded no contest in Macomb County Circuit Court to second-degree home invasion, a felony, in 2022. He was on probation for the offense for two years. A second felony charge of malicious destruction of property, over $1,000 but less than $20,000, was dismissed from the same incident.

Charges for unlawful transport of firearms were filed Oct. 22, 2022, against Bluer. This was set off by a video on YouTube appearing to show Bluer shooting guns when he was a convicted felon at the time, according to the filing. The videos were discovered when Bluer was being investigated by the FBI in the fall of 2021 for the racist vandalism. He was tried in U.S. District Court in Detroit and sentenced to 18 months in prison Oct. 19, 2023. He received credit for time served starting April 12, 2023, and according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, he was no longer in its custody as of July 19, 2024.

According to a court filing from Robinson, dated Oct. 12, 2023, Bluer struggled with alcoholism throughout his life. The document discusses a strict religious upbringing with nine other children in a household marked by abuse. The abuse took the form of being “beaten, whipped with cords or punched,” according to the document. The document details his commitment to recovery and includes a letter from his mother.