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Church arson suspects hit with 46 state chargesThree college students are being held on federal charges
 Court papers say Matthew Lee Cloyd, 20, told a witness that he and a friend "had done something stupid." RELATED
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- Three college students facing federal charges in a string of Alabama church fires also face state charges, the state's attorney general said Wednesday. Attorney General Troy King's office announced he will file 46 felony burglary and arson counts against the students, who are being held on federal conspiracy charges in connection with a series of rural church fires in February. Authorities identified the defendants as Matthew Lee Cloyd, 20, of Indian Springs; Benjamin Nathan Moseley, 20, and Russell Lee Debusk, 19, both of Birmingham.. They have been served notice of the state charges and remain at the Shelby County Jail, where they have been held under federal jurisdiction since their arrests on March 8. In court filings, all three have admitted being involved in the arson fires, which have been described as a joke that got out of hand. No one was injured in any of the blazes. At the time of their arrests, Moseley and DeBusk were sophomores at Birmingham-Southern College, which is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. DeBusk was a theater major, while Moseley's major was undeclared. Cloyd attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The three have been suspended and banned from the campuses pending the outcome of the criminal cases. The nine fires were apparently set in Alabama counties southwest of Birmingham -- five in Bibb County on February 3, and four in Greene, Sumter and Pickens counties on February 7. (See map) Five of the churches' congregations are predominantly black and four are predominantly white. According to previously unsealed court papers, Cloyd told a witness that he and Moseley "had done something stupid." "Cloyd stated to the witness that Moseley did it as a joke and it got out of hand," an affidavit in the federal case states. "Cloyd stated that they set a church on fire." Moseley and DeBusk admitted involvement in the fires, as well, the affidavit states. DeBusk said he was at the scene of the fires in Bibb County, where the three had been deer hunting the first weekend of February, and kicked in the door of two churches that later were set ablaze. Moseley told investigators that he and Cloyd set the other four fires "as a diversion to throw investigators off," the affidavit states. None of the three had a prior criminal record, officials have said. 
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