news-record.com

STONEVILLE — The burglars who broke into Stoneville Pentecostal Holiness Church ignored two laptop computers and walked past all the sound equipment, Pastor James Paul Ward Jr. said.

“They could have gotten away with quite a bit of stuff,” said Ward, who reported the break-in Monday.

Instead, they headed to a safe hidden in a closet that held a 3-foot-tall plastic bottle filled with quarters, nickels, dimes and some bills.

The bottle contained more than $400, Ward said. Young girls in his congregation had collected the money to benefit a home for unwed mothers in Salemburg.

Six churches, including Stoneville Pentecostal, have been broken into during the past week. Two more churches, Thompsonville Baptist in Reidsville and Lighthouse Baptist in Eden, reported break-ins Wednesday.

In the case of Thompsonville Baptist, the robbers took the safe, according to the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office. Though it contained no money, it did hold historical documents.

Dean Venable, spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said all the break-ins are similar. The burglars entered through a window and ransacked office areas for money.

Sunny Home Baptist Church in Eden, Stone-Eden Church and School in Stoneville, and Sharon Missionary Baptist Church in Stoneville also have reported break-ins.

Ward estimates it will cost his church $3,000 to $4,000 to fix the damage.

“They turned our offices upside down, and our office doors were all busted up,” he said.

Ward said he’s afraid to think about what it will cost to replace the stained glass window. “They damaged it up pretty good,” he said.

If the burglars were looking for money for food, Ward said he would gladly have accommodated them. In the past several months, his congregation has spent thousands of dollars to support community members in need.

But Ward said the break-in seemed too calculated. He thinks the burglars may have visited the church and were familiar with its layout.

“This was someone who, in my mind, they knew exactly what they were looking for,” Ward said. “They knew exactly where to go to find it.”

On Wednesday, Venable would not discuss any tips the sheriff’s office may have received.

“We’re optimistic, and we hope that we’ll be able to clear these cases,” Venable said.

He said there are measures that church leaders can take to limit the chance of falling victim to a break-in. One is to get an alarm. He also recommended that members take an active role in protecting their church by regularly driving by to check for suspicious activity.

Ward said he has yet to break the news to the young church members, ages 5 to 12, who raised the money for the unwed mothers. But he said the adults already are exploring ways to help them replace it.

“We fully intend to help those little girls replace that money,” he said.

But Ward said there are two other tasks he deems just as important: making sure the girls understand the importance of forgiving the burglars and teaching them that their church is still a safe place.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com