Apr 4, 2008 8:07 pm US/Eastern
900 Pounds Of Church Bells Disappear
More Than 900 Pounds Of Bronze Stolen From Houses Of Worship In Last Week
Reverend Likens Thieves To Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Two churches in the New York City borough of Queens have been raided for their church bells this week, CBS station WCBS-TV reported.
The churches -- one Catholic and one eastern Orthodox -- are within blocks of one another.
The Very Rev. Daniel Degyansky of St. John's eastern church does says the crime was sophisticated. Two bells were removed from his church Wednesday.
"No, the way this was carried out … well-planned ... researched ... both bells were 150 and 100 pound," Degyansky said. "The bolts that were used -- these were locked-in bolts [cutaways of bolts]," Degyansky said. "They were lined in plastic. You have to have special wrenches to do it."
That same night, a 650-pound bronze bell was stolen from another St. Mary's Church a few blocks away. That bell was waiting to be put in the church garden.
"I think their bell was 650 pounds, ours total 250 pounds -- we're talking 900 pounds of bronze," Degyansky said.
Father Brendan Duggan of St. Mary's is trying to stay positive about the experience.
"I made contact with the local scarp yards, here in Brooklyn and in Queens," Father Brendan Duggan said. "I must say they were very cooperative."
Degyansky knows bronze can be sold for scrap at about $2 a pound. With the combined loot, the alleged thieves stand to make $1,800 off of church bells.
The bells at St. John's were imported from Greece, and donated in the name of the parents and grandparents of the Brennan family, who still go to the church. The bell at St. Mary's was about to be put on permanent display. It was 120 years old.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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