Alleged Our Lady of Hope Church Bandit Nabbed with Help of Parishioner

A 40-year-old Mount Ephraim man was sent to jail Tuesday after a parishioner at Our Lady of Hope Church tipped off police to an alleged theft from a church donation box.

A woman praying at the church heard a banging near the church chapel shortly before 5:30 p.m. She then allegedly saw Kenneth Heil using a wire and a hook to fish money out of a metal donation box, according to police and a published report.

Police arrested Heil when they arrived at the church on Little Gloucester Road. They say he had managed to fish $29 out of the box when he was caught. Heil, of the unit block of Davis Road, was jailed for the alleged theft and an outstanding warrant from Burlington County.