A South Carolina woman is being accused of burglarizing four churches and taking her child with her when she broke into the buildings.
According to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, Leslie Reese, 42, has been arrested and faces four counts of third-degree burglary and one count of unlawful conduct toward a child.
Reese allegedly broke into four churches in Lexington County: Bethel Lutheran Church, Bethel United Methodist Church, Gilbert United Methodist Church and Samaria Baptist Church, The Christian Post reports.
Authorities began looking into Reese after she was caught on security footage.
“The security cam footage showed Reese breaking a window to get into both churches and taking various items such as a cross, candles and Christmas ornaments,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said.
“Reese signed her child out of school and took the child with her to break into churches and take things,” he added. “A book bag containing a folder belonging to Reese’s child was found inside Samaria Baptist.”
The age of Reese’s child is unknown at this time.
Reese was being held at Lexington County Detention Center following her arrest but was released after making bail.
Reese isn’t the first to break into churches in Lexington County in recent years.
As The Christian Post reports, in 2017, Lexington County officials arrested two 17-year-old men, Tristan Harmon and Skylar Shuey, who had broken into Bethlehem Baptist Church, damaged the church’s property and stole a golf cart.
Harmon and Shuey also broke into a safe on the property.
At the time, Koon noted that the teens had done “some heavy damage to the inside of the church.”
Authorities were, however, able to return “several items back to the church and recovered the golf cart.”
Related:
Connecticut Woman Arrested for Setting Church, Temple on Fire Allegedly Practices Witchcraft
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Chalabala
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
