Church members in Henderson Co. help catch burglary suspects
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HENDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. — Deputies are crediting church members with breaking a burglary case where hundreds of dollars in musical instruments were stolen. “You think of your church as being a safe place, a holy place, and you would hope people wouldn’t violate that,” said Adam Wood, associate pastor at Union Grove Baptist Church. Wood said when he and a small music group got to church Sunday their instruments were missing. “One of the guys went to get his instrument, couldn’t find it,” Wood said. “He asked me if I knew where it was, I said maybe he took it home. We looked all over the place and noticed one of my guitars was missing as well.” Then, Wood said, one church member found a scratch on the front door to the church and a metal piece near the handle where someone had tried to pry the door open. The members were missing three guitars and a mandolin. Capt. Tracey Grisham with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department said the group immediately took action. “The break in the case was made by the church members themselves,” Grisham said. “They cross-referenced the numbers on Craigslist that they just happened to find while looking, cross-referenced with Facebook and found our suspect.” Grisham said after arresting Jonathon Moody and Galen Bell, both from Lexington, they found text messages indicating they planned to burglarize three more churches in Scotts Hill. Moody is charged with burglary and theft and both face conspiracy charges. “I was raised in church. I’d be afraid to break into a church,” Grisham said. “It’s kinda like stealing from grandma — you just don’t do it.” Investigators believe a man from Pinson met one of the suspects in Jackson and bought a mandolin stolen from the church. If you have this mandolin or know where it is, call the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department at 731-968-7777.
