Burglar breaks into 3 Batavia churches

BATAVIA, N.Y. (WIVB) - A burglar is targeting churches in Batavia, but police say the culprit might not be on the loose for long because of what was left behind at a clothing store.

Detectives have a lot more than just fingerprints: they have blood evidence. Saturday night or Sunday morning officers say someone broke into three Batavia churches, St. James, First Baptist and St. Mary's, and made off with cash.

Police believe the culprit tried to pull a fast one by slipping into a Peebles Store, bought some new clothes, but left the old ones behind. Police are now trying to see if they can match evidence from those clothes to the church break-ins.

Officers are stunned at the crime, but feel certain they'll catch the criminal.

Batavia Police Det. Richard Schauf said, "Who would think in a civilized society someone would break into a church? We do have strong evidence that will lead us quite quickly to the person or persons responsible are."

And when officers find whom ever broke into the churches, they could face charges of burglary and criminal mischief.

Investigators say these break-ins really rattled a lot of people, who came into church Sunday morning to discover their place of worship had been violated. The churches are continuing to check to see what else might be missing.