A joint investigation by the Smithville Police Department and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department has resulted in 24 charges including vandalism, disorderly conduct, harassment, and desecration of honored places for a local man. Authorities said 57-year-old Laddie Bill Jerrells of Smithville was arrested on July 5 after he allegedly posted offensive and blasphemous messages on the property of several area churches. Sheriff Patrick Ray and Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins, in a joint statement Monday, said Jerrells went to two churches in the City of Smithville on June 22 and July 4 and three churches in the county on May 13, June 25, and June 29, posting offensive notes on the front doors, buildings, or signs of the churches.