An assistant pastor of a small Tennessee church involved in a dispute with the global Seventh-day Adventist Church has been released from Central Detention Center in San Bernardino after fasting since his arrest on July 31, he said Friday.
Lucan Chartier, 26, was released from a San Bernardino County lockup on Thursday Aug. 9, according to inmate records. Chartier is a member of Creation Seventh Day Adventist Church of Guys, Tenn., founded by Pastor Walter "Chick" McGill.
McGill was arrested July 13 on a federal warrant on the grounds of Loma Linda University Church of Seventh-day Adventists.
"I am currently working on regaining my strength and preparing to help Pastor McGill back to health after his release, which is expected to occur within the next two days," Chartier said Friday in an email. "We expect that he will require a liquid diet moving into soft foods before he is fully able to eat again."
Chartier and McGill were found in contempt of federal court in Tennessee, where a judge ruled in April they violated an order they cease using the name "Seventh-day Adventist" and the acronym "SDA" to describe their church.
The trademark infringement dispute was initiated in court by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, also known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church of North America.
Chartier, who was wanted as a fugitive for contempt of court, gave a press conference outside Loma Linda University Church of Seventh-day Adventists on July 31 before he at the Redlands Police Department compound on West Park Avenue.
Approximately 6,500 members of the Loma Linda University Church of Seventh-day Adventists comprise the largest Adventist congregation in North America, according to the church's website.
For previous Redlands-Loma Linda Patch reports on the dispute, click , and .
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