Police seek clues in church burglaries

Published 12:34 am Saturday, December 18, 2010

Troy police are seeking clues into the burglaries of three local churches during the past week.

“We’re asking anybody who has any information to please call us,” said Capt. Jimmy Ennis of the Troy Police Department. “If you have information or think you have something helpful, let us check it out … if it seems odd to you at the time, it probably is odd.”

Ennis said the three churches: God’s Way Baptist on the Elba Highway; First Presbyterian on George Wallace Drive; and Bush Memorial on George Wallace Drive were burglarized on two nights.

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The first burglary, at God’s Way, was reported Dec. 10.

Nearly a week later, on Thursday, Dec. 16, the burglaries at First Presbyterian and Bush Memorial were reported in the early morning.

“I can’t tell you what was taken because right now only us and the person who stole it know what was taken,” Ennis said.

However, he estimated the damage to the churches and the value of the stolen goods to be about $2,000 in total.

Ennis said police do not believe the burglaries are motivated by any anti-Christian sentiments. “There’s nothing to indicate that,” he said.

Instead, he believes the burglaries are motivated by the same factors as most other recent burglaries. And churches, he said, can make easy targets.

“A lot of times people think churches are protected with the same types of security that a home or business may be,” Ennis said. “Although we had a case a few years ago where we actually caught the guy because the particular church had a video system hooked up that they had just gotten from Sam’s for three or four hundred dollars.”

Anyone with any information about these burglaries is asked to call the Troy Police Department at 566-0500 or the secret witness line at 566-5555.