SOUTH BRUNSWICK – A Pennsylvania man is accused of stealing more than $5,000 worth of music equipment from St. Mary’s Baptist Church.
The 24-year-old male from Morrisville, Pennsylvania, is accused of visiting the church on Broadway Road on Nov. 6, 2018, and stealing numerous pieces of instruments that belonged to the church’s band members, according to information provided by the South Brunswick Police Department on May 9.
At the time, detectives alerted local musical equipment stores and pawn shops about the crime. Church leaders provided detectives with a detailed list of the music instruments stolen, according to the statement. Detectives asked retailers of to be on alert for any suspicious pawns matching the stolen property from the church burglary.
Within hours of the burglary, the Middletown Police Department in Pennsylvania was contacted by a music equipment store in their township for a suspicious male attempting to sell stolen music equipment. The person attempting to sell the items left the store when police were called, according to the statement.
A Middletown officer stopped the suspect’s vehicle as it was leaving the store and discovered an array of musical equipment in the back seat, according to the allegations. After linking the equipment to that stolen from the church, the man was charged with receiving stolen property and was subsequently lodged at a correctional facility in Pennsylvania. Police recovered all of the musical equipment that were stolen from the church and returned them, according to police.
Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office Tech Unit detectives were able to recover photos taken at a park behind the church at the time of the burglary in addition to locations searched linking the suspect to the church, according to the statement.
The man was charged with burglary, criminal mischief, and theft of movable property from a church. He surrendered to South Brunswick Police on May 8. He was released pending his first court appearance.