Jul 22, 2008 6:23 am US/Eastern
Thieves Swipe Air Conditioner From Camden Church
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS 3) ―
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Police said the bandits stole the air conditioning unit from outside the Macedonia AME Church on Spruce Street in Camden on Saturday night.
CBS
A South Jersey church is left to deal with the sweltering heat after thieves made-off with their air conditioner and possibly sold the scrap for cash. It is not the only recent heist fueled by skyrocketing metal prices.
Police said the bandits stole the air conditioning unit from outside the Macedonia AME Church on Spruce Street in Camden on Saturday night.
Bill Spearman, a member of the church, believes the thieves were after the copper piping, looking to sell it as scrap metal.
"They must have gotten inside and just taken it apart because you can see the frame is still bolted to the concrete," Spearman explained.
Fortunately, a smaller sanctuary downstairs still has air conditioning leaving parishioners a cool place to pray. Spearman said that services will be conducted in the lower level for the remainder of the summer.
The church theft comes on the heels of the arrests of three men in connection to the swiping of a bronze horse statue from the grounds of the former Garden State Park racetrack in Cherry Hill.
Police said the three men, and another arrested on Sunday, cut up most of the statue and sold it to a Camden salvage yard.
The thieves in the church heist remain on the loose.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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