Practice News Story 3: Crime

Mormon Church Vandalized; Damage Minimal

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that frequent the meetinghouse found on 1600 Ave. and 900 N. in Logan must must have done something to earn God's favor this week. Yesterday morning the meetinghouse was burglarized, and although two computers were stolen and two accompanying monitors were destroyed, the damage could have been much worse. The burglary took place sometime near 2:20 a.m. when at least two people entered the church and removed the two computers. The monitors were later found shattered inside the church. Just recently the buildings computer system had been changed and the stolen computers had been wiped clean of any information or software and were on the verge of being recycled. Even though the loss of the equipment hovers around $600, losing only two old, blank computers would be counted a blessing among the majority of church circles.

After finding no evidence of forced entry, the police were able to locate the burglar’s path to penetrating the church building. The previous night a window located on the back side of the building was inadvertently left open, a mistake which Bob Knotz, physical management manager over five LDS church buildings, says is, “against (security) recommendations”. Two leaders of the church, Bishop Lawrence Shirk and one of his counselors were interviewing members late in the evening and upon leaving failed to notice the open window. The two burglars noticed, however, and capitalized on the opportunity to enter the church and vandalize at will. Vandalize at will meaning steal two old computer systems. Bob Knotz arrived at the church that same morning to begin his days work of replacing ceiling tiles when he noticed the two broken monitors. “I’ve seen vandalism happen to church buildings before,” he said. “This is not the reason I enjoy being the (physical management) guy … but it’s part of the job.” Shirk reiterated the point that the loss wasn’t as bad as it could have been.“(The burglars) aren’t going to be getting any software,” the bishop said. “(The computers and monitors) were extras we were going to recycle anyway.” Shirk also accepted the fault for the window mishap. “It’s obvious who’s to blame, I left the window open … I just forgot to close it.”

For such a seemingly insignificant crime, local police are pulling out all the stops to find the suspects. They sent out officers with K-9s to track the suspect’s scent and have also spent time compiling ample fingerprint evidence. Currently the police have two suspects.