At a time when St. Timothy’s Methodist Church is filled with the Christmas spirit, some thieves tried to take away a little bit of the season.

According to Mandeville Police Chief Tom Buell, “It’s just a terrible thing to do to the church, you’ve got a hundred thousand dollars of total damage as well as the articles taken, it’s pretty bad.”
 
Detectives believe the group got in through this window in a side door of the sanctuary. Upstairs, they raided the music room, stealing expensive guitars and video equipment.

Authorities estimate the total cost of the damages and stolen merchandise to reach $100,000.

Police say the group also spent many hours vandalizing the church, knocking over Christmas decorations including the tree. “Some of them are going to talk about what happened, that’s our best lead, and I think that’s going to pan out for us,” said Buell.
 
Church Pastor James Mitchell said church members are praying for the suspects and cleaning up in order to celebrate something no one can take away, not even holiday thieves, “It kind of reminds me of the grinch that stole Christmas, you can take away all that bad but the reason for Christmas remains the same, the birth of Christ into the world and that they can’t take away from you.”

---

Bookmark