For the second day in a row, Chatham-Kent police have charged a person in relation to a large gathering at a Wheatley church.
The alleged gathering took place Sunday morning at the Old Colony Mennonite Church on Wheatley Road.
According to police, officers responded to the report of a large gathering around 11 a.m. and observed over 100 unmasked people inside the church when they arrived.
Under the province-wide Grey-Lockdown tier of the Keeping Ontario Safe and Open framework, religious services are only allowed up to 10 people indoors. The municipal by-law also states that masks are required during worship.
A member of the church, a 43-year-old Wheatley man, took responsibility for the gathering and was charged with failing to comply with a continued section 7.0.2 order, contrary to section 10(1)(a) of the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020. He is set to appear in court at a later date.
"Everyone complied with the officers’ requests to end the church service early and leave the property," police said in a media release.
Sunday's incident comes just one day after police responded to another large gathering at the Old Colony Mennonite Church where a 50-year-old member of the church was charged with the same offence.
