Notorious ‘Street Preachers’ arrested again, this time in Kingston

The notorious “Street Preachers” are at it again. They are known best for their street preaching in London, Ontario, often being arrested for harassing people in public. Their most recent arrest came Thursday in Kingston. The two men were charged with causing a disturbance near the Queen’s University campus.

Police arrived at the corner of Earl Street and University Avenue around 3 p.m. after being called with reports of a disturbance according The Queen’s Journal.

Police have yet to confirm the identities of the men arrested however photos on social media as well as the birth dates that they did provide confirm that they are in fact Matthew Carapella and Steven Ravbar. Both men are facing criminal mischief back in London due to a prior incident in which they entered a church and harassed its parishioners.

Upon their arrest Carapella and Ravbar were sporting their classic sandwich-boards signs that display Biblical messages.

Both men have been charged under section 175 of the Criminal Code, they have since been released from the station after being held there for a brief period.

Campus security notified police of the two men after several female students complained that they were chastising them for their attire. Among them was Tegwyn Hughes who writes for the Queen’s Journal and sought out their comments for a story in the student newspaper. Both Carapella and Ravbar refused to give her comment for her story but instead criticized her pants.

“They told me that wearing pants was going to drive men to lust, and that I should wear a long flowing skirt,” she said. As she continued to walk away, she said the men told her she would be going to hell.

Hughes was informed the police had been called by campus security and decided to watch the two men continue to harass female students while waiting for the police to intervene. “They’d say that they were dressed whorishly, that they were listening to music that was letting Hollywood brainwash them to be immoral,” she said.

The Queen’s Journal published a story on their arrest and from their research they learned this was not their first breach of the peace.

“It gave me impression that in London these men are really well known and so they were looking to go into a new market and hopefully not be as prosecuted as they had been previously,” said Hughes.

The Kingston arrest is another example of Carapella and Ravbar travelling to spread their message. In June they were spotted in Port Stanley, and Waterloo in December. They’ve even travelled as far as the southern United States.

Their next scheduled court date for the London incident is Feb. 18.

Editor’s Note: This article was revised to give credit to Queen’s University’s student paper The Queen’s Journal for first reporting the story.