FOREST -- Two teenagers have been charged with vandalizing a church whose stained-glass windows were smashed and spray-painted with satanic symbols.

The boys, both 17, were charged yesterday with one count each of malicious injury to property for the damage done to St. John Baptist Church on U.S. 460. Additional charges could follow, said Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown.

The vandalism happened sometime during the night on July 19. Spray-painted on the building were the numbers 666 and upside-down crosses. Five of the church's stained-glass windows were broken, including one smashed with a paint can that splattered paint on a piano and on the sanctuary floor. Also, a cross made of flowers was stolen from the cemetery and placed upside-down in the doorway of the church.

A damage estimate amount has yet to be determined, but church deacon Eugene Payne said it must total in the thousands of dollars.

"It hurts you just like it was your own home," Payne said. "I guess they saw that paint and the devil got them."

-- Media General News Service