Just like the green creature whose heart was two sizes too small, a grinch could not steal the sounds and spirit of Christmas from a De Soto church.
De Soto Police Chief Jeff McCreary said a break-in was reported the morning of Nov. 22 at the De Soto Community Church of God, 300 W. Mineral St.
“The entry is believed to have occurred overnight,” McCreary said. “There were no signs of forced entry.”
However, members of the church’s praise band discovered most of their musical instruments and equipment missing.
“We still had a piano, so our pianist, Mark Ferrell, provided music at that morning’s service,” said the Rev. Ron Kulp, senior pastor.
Most of the stolen instruments belonged to the three members of the band, Kulp said.
He said the church has been meeting in person, although about half of the congregation typically views services on Facebook Live.
The stolen items were valued at about $3,153, police reported.
McCreary said to date, only one of the musical instruments, an Alvarez acoustic guitar, had been recovered.
“The owner of a local pawn shop thought something was suspicious when someone brought it in, so he called us,” McCreary said.
He said the lead resulted in the arrest of a 23-year-old De Soto man.
The suspect was booked and then released pending application for warrants. De Soto Police will seek charges against the man through the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for felony stealing and possession of stolen property worth more than $500, McCreary said.
Kulp said he does not believe the suspect was associated with the church.
The pastor said the church has reimbursed the praise band members for their stolen instruments.
“It was the right thing to do,” he said.
Kulp said the church is also looking into adding a security system, because the building was broken into again, most likely on the evening of Dec. 10 or the morning of Dec. 11.
“This time, they damaged a door, which we’re having to replace, but the only thing we found missing was some food items,” Kulp said.
The band members have purchased replacement instruments – and are taking them home with them – so the music goes on and the church celebrated Christmas with its band, which also includes four singers.
“Because of COVID this year, our Christmas Eve celebration will mainly be a come-and-go event,” Kulp said. “Our main Christmas service, ‘The Carols of Christmas,’ we held Sunday,” Kulp said. “It was broadcast, including videos of our children singing … and our praise band.”
The stolen items still missing include a Fender 237 100-watt bass combo amplifier, a Princeton reverb guitar amplifier, a Boss 15-watt amplifier, guitar pedals, a Keeley compressor, a Dunlop mini-volume pedal, a Boss DD3 delay, an MXR Carbon Copy delay, a Strymon TimeLine delay and a Boss chromatic tuner pedal, according to the report.
McCreary asks anyone with information about either church break-in, or any crime in De Soto, to call 636-586-8891 and ask for a detective.