By making two arrests earlier this month, Baltimore police said they were closing their book on 75 crimes, including nine church burglaries and thefts.
Police arrested David McCray, 39, of the 2400 block of West Lombard Street, July 3 and charged him with burglaries and thefts at churches and temples in Baltimore, including Payne Memorial Church, Douglas Memorial Church, Faith Tabernacle Church and Patterson Asbury AME Church.
McCray, who police said is a drug addict, befriended church officials and preyed on their sympathies before stealing from them, said Maj. Michael Tabor, who oversees the city?s detectives.
McCray also stole from Ray?s Temple, Zion Outreach Service Inc., New Antioch Holiness Church, Sharp Street Memorial United and Harvey Johnson Union Baptist Church, Tabor said.
Police said McCray sold an electronic keyboard to a pawn shop, where investigators tracked it down, leading them to him.
Two days after McCray?s arrest, city detectives arrested Alphonso Russell, 59, of the 3600 block of West Franklin Street, who they said is charged in connection with 66 car break-ins, including stealing DVD players, jewelry and other valuables left in automobiles.
Both men had been arrested multiple times in the past, but were always back on the streets, until now, Tabor said. “The courts don?t take property crime all that seriously,” he said.
However, Tabor said that city judges now set substantial bonds for both suspects ? a sign of progress police are making combating crime.
