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13 churches in Lawrence County burglarized since September
Electronics were stolen in most of the burglaries, reports indicate.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Police are investigating 13 church burglaries in Lawrence County since September, Pennsylvania state police said.
The burglaries have been in Union, Neshannock, Slippery Rock and Shenango townships and in the city of New Castle, said Trooper Jeff Martin of the state police New Castle post.
Neshannock Township Police Superintendent Philip Carlo said he would like to develop a task force including law enforcement and other agencies from the jurisdictions so that they can share information about the break-ins. “Maybe not an official task force,” he said, but the idea would be to meet regularly.
Martin said the break-ins began in September — shortly after a rash of burglaries at churches in Mercer County stopped.
The Lawrence County burglaries stopped for about three weeks, Martin said, but started up again with a burglary last weekend at the Washington Union Alliance Church on West Washington Street in Union Township. Burglars entered through an unlocked window there and removed computers and stereo equipment sometime overnight Nov. 13 to the morning of Nov. 14, a police report says.
In most of the burglaries, electronics were stolen, reports indicate. “They can get rid of those pretty quick,” Carlo said.
Carlo said he believes the burglars in Neshannock, at least, are targeting churches rather than choosing them randomly in a general rash of break-ins.
He said that in a 40-day period, most of the burglaries in the township have been at churches.
Carlo and Martin said there are no solid leads on who’s committing the break-ins.
New Castle Detective Kevin Seelbaugh was not available to comment on the city burglaries.
Hermitage Police Chief Pat McElhinny said there were 10 churches broken into over the summer in the Shenango Valley, with several of them in his city.
He said police had suspects in mind who are now in jail on other charges. He said that when those suspects went to jail, the burglaries in that area stopped. He said the burglars in Lawrence County could be associates of the Shenango Valley burglars, but the focus in the Shenango burglaries did not seem to be on electronics. Those burglars mainly stole money, McElhinny said.
Hermitage Detective Eric Jewell said there were four burglaries in Hermitage. There was one in Sharpsville, and the rest were in Lackawannock and Shenango townships, he said.
Jewell said churches aren’t typical burglary targets. He said a burglary ring could have been “fragmented” if one or two members went to jail, and the rest of its members could have continued their break-ins in Lawrence County.