Winfield Police investigating church burglaries

July 15, 2012|Pilar Pedraza | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(WINFIELD, Kan.) — “Very disappointed that someone would disrespect God's house and these people. These are marvelous people,” said Pastor Tom Boese of the First Church of the Nazarene after burglars targeted several churches in Winfield over the weekend. Now, police are asking for your help.

Winfield officers are warning churches to lock-up and be on the look-out. This crime watch alert was prompted by a string of burglaries in houses of worship beginning Saturday morning and continuing over the next 24 hours.

The first of the three churches to be hit was the First Church of the Nazarene where burglars made their way in through an unused and barricaded backdoor. They used a concrete block to gain entry sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning and then began to tear through the building.

“But then I turned and looked and saw a big hole in my office door, an interior door, and I knew right away that somebody had broken in,” said Boese of discovering the break-in. “The safe was missing from its location. And I did not see it. And I just assumed some very strong team of men had hauled it off.”

Pastor Tom Boese and helpers spent a good portion of their Saturday cleaning up the mess the burglars left behind. Some things still need to be done.

“We're going to have to use a cutting torch or something else to open it,” Boese said of the damaged safe. “We don't keep any money at the church and all it has is documents.”

Boese says he's mostly disappointed in the burglars and feels bad for his parishioners.

“These are marvelous people. Just very disappointed that somebody would abuse them by tearing up their building. They work hard at keeping it nice.”

The pattern was repeated at Trinity Lutheran on Sunday morning, where burglars again broke into the church and stole an undisclosed amount of cash.

A short time later the thieves struck again at the First Christian Church, just a block down the street.

Winfield police say the three burglaries are related and they are urging all local churches to be on the lookout.

But Pastor Boese had a different message on Sunday morning...

“I told them that, whoever the individual was, that God was eager to forgive them and so will we be. I hope that individual finds the Lord and finds forgiveness for the things that he's been up to.”

The pastor says they were also burglarized about eight years ago, with thieves using the same entrance. The church is now looking at barricading off that unused portion of the building and installing a security system.

Meanwhile Winfield Police ask that if you know anything about the crimes, please call Cowley County Crimestoppers at 620-221-7777 or the police directly at 620-221-5555.

Winfield officers are warning churches to lock-up and be on the look-out.

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