COLUMBIA — Federal prosecutors said Thursday they had filed charges against a pair of men on allegations that they burned down the only Roman Catholic church in Caldwell Parish on the eve of Holy Week.

Anthony Dillion Jr., 19, and James Dale Smith IV, 21, both of Columbia, had been caught stealing electricity from the church, and face five to 20 years in prison if convicted of arson, the prosecutors said. The men could also be fined up to $250,000 after last Friday's fire at the St. John Chapel in Columbia.

"Worshiping where we choose is a fundamental liberty woven into the founding fabric of this Nation, and these two men are alleged to have destroyed the sole church in Caldwell Parish where its Catholic residents could meet and worship right before the holiest week in the church calendar," U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Keller said in a statement

The congregation is holding services at a clinic adjacent to a nearby hospital.

According to prosecutors, Dillion and Smith lived in a home that had tapped into the church's electrical service and, separately, had sold a broken television to a Columbia resident. After the church disrupted the men's stealing power and the Columbia resident confronted the men about the broken TV, Dillion and Smith broke into the church with a baseball bat, the prosecutors said.

"After ransacking the church's electronic equipment, including the theft of at least three televisions and a sound system, the men set the church ablaze," the government said.

A church restoration fund has been established at the Diocese of Alexandria's website.

The state fire marshal, the FBI, the local sheriff and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are investigating.

State officials spelled one of the suspect's last name as Dillion, while the federal prosecutors spelled it as Dillon.