Thief caught on camera stealing from church

LOGAN COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A thief was caught on camera Sunday night stealing from a church.

Members of Morning Star Freewill Baptist Church on West Fork Road in Chapmanville didn’t want their identities to be used, afraid the suspect might retaliate.

“I would be petrified to steal from a church,” one of the women who attends the church said. “Don’t they think they might get zapped in their shoes?”

“I think they’re just so hard up, they’ll steal from anybody,” another church member said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a church, an old person, or a kid.”

They say police have asked them to share security images of the thief on their Facebook page as a warning to others in the area.

“We’ve been broken into before several times throughout my life,” a member of the congregation said. “They stole guitars once.”

With the building not being near any neighboring homes, they’ve installed several security cameras and signs warning potential thieves they’re being recorded, but it’s not as much of a deterrent as they’d hoped.

“He parked right beside the sign saying you’re on camera and still walked in there,” a member said. “I guess he didn’t care if he was on camera. You’d think they’d see the sign and go away, but they don’t.”

She says the thief left with a couple boxes, but she wasn’t sure what was in them.

The Logan County sheriff says they have obtained warrants for a suspect in the case, and they’re trying to locate him.

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