Police, Clergy Meet After Burglary Spree Arrest

Until November, Cruzada Evangelica Misioner, a Latin church on Long Beach Boulevard, had never had a burglary since its doors opened more than 40 years ago. Then the church was burglarized again in December.

“This never happened before and we never thought it could happen to us,” said Rev. Raul Colon, the church’s spiritual leader. “Then when it happened, we realized we have to make some changes with the building and the people we have in the church.”

Colon was among the clergy members who attended an informational meeting at City Hall on Tuesday morning, led by Long Beach Police Department Inspector John Radin and Det. Lt. James Canner, after 13 burglaries were reported at eight religious institutions throughout the city from March to December. 

The meeting was called after police arrested Terrance Farr, a 44-year-old Long Beach resident, who was charged with 10 counts of third-degree burglary on Dec. 8. “He did give us 10 confessions on 10 different burglaries that he did,” Canner said.

Canner, Radin and other officers that investigated the burglary spree – Dt. John Sharpe , Dt. Mike Corbett, Sgt. Richard DePalma, Det.  Sgt. Karl Hayes and Det. Sgt. Howard Domitz – offered the clergy several tips on how to prevent future burglaries. They strongly suggested that they fix and re-secure windows and doors that burglars use to gain entry to their buildings. Canner was alarmed at how many of the burglaries involved open windows.  

“At one institution, the defendant told us, he went back over ten different times,” Canner said. “Why did he go back? Because the window was kept wide open. Even after it was reported to police, the window was left open.”

The officers also encouraged the clergy not to leave work tools out, which help burglaries to break through interior doors and into safes.

Canner said Farr typically committed his burglaries between midnight and 8 a.m., and he took cash or precious or semi-precious metals, such as brass and silver items.

The costliest items were ten antique, solid brass candle holders and candelabras taken from St. John's Lutheran Church by The Sea on Riverside Boulevard. The church’s pastor asked how Farr was able to get away with such heavy items without an accomplice with a car.

“He told me he took them out of the church, laid them on the ground, walked back to Waldbaum’s, got a shopping cart, came back, put them in the shopping cart and brought them to his house,” Sharpe explained.

Police said Farr then took the items to cash them in at a scrap metal/recycling shop in Oceanside, a business where they took their investigation and that led them back to him.

Canner said another key to cracking the case were the surveillance cameras police installed in the houses of worship. “We caught him on video surveillance, and he stayed at several of these locations for over an hour,” Canner said.

Police encouraged the clergy to invest in surveillance cameras, and to report potential future burglaries as soon as they discover them.

“Time is of the essence, especially if you want to recover your property,” Radin said.

Pastor Mark Moses said his New Life Church of Christ on West Chester Street experienced four burglaries since July. While some money was stolen, he said, the property damage was more costly.

“It helps us to rest easy,” Moses said about Farr’s arrest, “but we are going to take steps to make sure that our facility is secure and safe.”