Burglar Ransacks Southwest OKC Church, Steals Van

A burglar ransacked a metro church, only to leave behind most of the items he had collected while inside.

The burglar managed to pry open a window without triggering the alarm. Though, if the man was that desperate and down on his luck, the church could have stepped in to help, the pastor said.

“You spend your life trying to help people like that and minister to people like that, and so when they come into God's church and do that it's just really hurtful,” said Pastor Rick Goodman.

The man left behind a trail of destruction inside the Knob Hill Baptist Church. It started in the office, a lock box was smashed open, papers on desks and inside drawers were thrown across the room.

“It was a real mess. He just ... you know what he didn’t think had any value he just threw it,” said Goodman.

Though a stack of Goodman's sermons remained untouched, possibly by divine intervention, but the wake of the thief's destruction carried on throughout the church, even taking a detour to the kitchen for a snack.

The pastor said when the man couldn't find any valuables he went for the next best thing, looking for toiletries like shampoo and toothpaste, making piles of these items around the church.

“He went out the glass door, he didn’t realize I guess we when he went out that door it locked,” said Goodman.

The locked door forced the man to leave behind the piles of items he gathered and he took off with the only item he walked out with -- keys to the church van. The van was found on Monday just a few minutes from the church at the Ashley Park Townhomes.

Still, the thought of the invasion in a place of worship brings Goodman to tears.

“What it does is it hurts me that somebody would have such a least amount of respect especially for God's house,” said Goodman.

If you have any information on this break-in, call police at 235-7300.