HOUSTON – Houston police are looking for up to three burglars who used a stolen church van to break into a Family Dollar store.
The crime happened in the 5900 block of N. Wayside at Kenton. Just before 3 a.m. Wednesday a witness called 911 to say a van had backed into the store.
Officers arrived to find the wrecked van and damaged store, but the suspects were already gone.
Surveillance video showed men running into the business to steal tobacco. They then ran from the scene and left the van behind.
The side of the van was labeled as belonging to the Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church. Church-goers called their pastor when they saw the van on TV news.
Pastor Theadore Brown tells KHOU 11 News there wasn't even a battery in the vehicle. He believes the thieves brought their own to start it up and steal it from the Cornerstone Baptist Church Property.
Brown says this very same van was stolen by crooks in 2015, and when he got it back he began removing the battery every night to prevent it from being taken again.
Police say the criminals who stole it this morning were desperate and bold.
"A lot of it - we think - they don't have jobs, but they don't want jobs," said Pastor Brown. "That is their job stealing. If you give them a job, they don't want it."
"If I can live without stealing how come they can't."
