Church Burglary Exposes Larger Concerns

Post a Comment » Written on July 29th, 2008     
Filed under: News
SANTA ROSA, CA (July 29, 2008) – The pastor of children’s ministries at Redwood Covenant Church knew that the situation couldn’t be good when he found the locks to the church’s four large storage containers lying on the ground last week. He had no idea, however, where the discovery of the burglary would lead.

Stolen goodsOpening the doors to each of the containers, which are like the type found on cargo ships, the theft of numerous items last Wednesday evening was obvious. “I made my way through all the containers and what upset me most was that they took four of our inflatable jump houses and slides,” writes Scott Peterson on his blog. “We were missing several other big ticket items, but come on – steal jump houses from a church?”

The church estimated the loss to be at least $2,000. On Thursday, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department contacted the church to say they had found some of the items while executing an unrelated arrest warrant at a local home where methamphetamines were manufactured.

Peterson and others spent several hours at the house identifying their items, which deputies said they could take with them. They were rolling up one of the church’s extension cords when a man in handcuffs complained to an officer, “Hey, they’re stealing my cord!” Peterson mused over the irony.

Conditions inside the house were messy, but the surrounding property was disgusting, according to Peterson, who deputies had asked to check for additional stolen items. “Hiding in the brush were all kinds of pot plants. The estate looked like a campground. It was filled with ratty tents.” Beside the tents were holes that had been dug to use as toilets.
“I didn’t find anything, but I did acquire a severe case of the heebie-jeebies,” Peterson says.

Later, Peterson recalled the words of one of the deputies: “Someday I’m going to bring my children to a house like this and tell them, ‘Stay in school.’ ”

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