Yesterday's theft at the Berean Church in Lincoln will certainly go down as one of the more interesting heists of the year. A man posing as an employee of the armored car service used by the church walked in wearing a rather generic security uniform. "Carl" was handed the weekend offering of around $145,000, initialed the receipt and waltzed out. About 15 minutes later, the real guard showed up. I wouldn't normally mention the amount (we don't like to entice other criminals), but somehow this already showed up in the press. I wonder if a reporter caught it on the police scanner.
It sounds like a movie plot. Round up Brad Pitt, Robert Wagner, and Pierce Brosnan! I thought there was a good chance that this distinctive modus operandi would show up elsewhere, and did some quick research on the Internet. I haven't found any similar cases, but if any readers of the Chief's Corner have any ideas for search terms or techniques, have at it. It's just a little hard to believe that this smooth operator was a first-timer.
Although most of the offering was in checks (less than $5,000 was cash), that's still a very good haul. Our three convenience store robberies so far this year have netted a combined total of less than $100. I wouldn't be surprised if the same scheme doesn't show up elsewhere in the future. Large congregations, beware.
Although most of the offering was in checks (less than $5,000 was cash), that's still a very good haul. Our three convenience store robberies so far this year have netted a combined total of less than $100. I wouldn't be surprised if the same scheme doesn't show up elsewhere in the future. Large congregations, beware.
15 comments:
HUM? This church has 4 million dollars a year in offerings? The man holding the sign at the parking lot entrance is still employed. Can the church give him a new sign. At least?
I would guess the person who posed as a guard is one of the members. Church going is rather impersonal. So the people that work the accounts do not know bill from Bob. Also, this is an inside job, for sure.
Inside job. Now that is a phrase to remember. I was told that about our business burglary by the office who worked it. That was about two months prior to the officer being arrested for it.
Chief,
This was a scam that Frank Abnegail (sic?) Jr. mentioned in his autobiographical book. It was turned into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the past ten years but I don't recall if that scene was in the movie.
Frank was a very successful con man while still in his teens. He bilked million$ from his victims. What is really ironic is that some of the banks he victimized in his early years now pay him big bucks as a security consultant.
Gun Nut
Crafty, very crafty. I wonder if whoever released the deposit would have let that much of their own money go to someone that showed up at an unusual time and that didn't show proper ID. I wasn't aware that their pickup schedules commonly varied at all.
In any case, someone knew the schedule and the procedure for picking up the deposit. Inside job?
Theft is awful in any case, but to steal from a church is truly slimy.
I'm just amazed that the LJS actually gave a full description of the suspect...such is not their normal operating procedure.
A local Lincoln reader of the Chief's Corner gave me this tip via email. Since she contacted me off-blog, I think she may prefer not to be identified here.
She had received an email a while back concerning similar cases in the Dallas area, which she forwarded to me.
Using the search term "courier" in my queries, I quickly found a news article concerning the cases described in the original email she received. We'll see if the physical description is a match, but the M.O. is dead-on.
Did you mean a good haul for the robber or for the church?
Does this armored car company normally have their guards carry sidearms, and if so, was the fake guard also carrying a sidearm?
AC companies tend to screen their employees more closely than do many churches. Churches also are known to give people with rough spots in their past a second chance in life with minor employment and they also use a lot of volunteer workers (a great way to get inside and observe how everything operates). In other words, if Saul of Tarsus can turn over a new leaf, anyone can, right?
They may not have the "turning over a new leaf" people handling money, but they don't need to handle it to observe how it's done and make mental notes on the procedures and schedules. Be a "Simon (or Simona) the Likeable" type, and you'll blend right in. Good people often tend to trust others a little bit oo much.
GK, it's obvious why the LJS gave an unredacted description of the suspect. I think we all know why...
9:29, easy on the runaway extrapolation. This is a time of the year when quite a few of their parishioners tithe a portion of their income tax refund, and other such non-weekly donations. Special mission-work fund drives, etc.
930Am...
That movie is:
Catch me if you can.
But, was a news conference necessary? When other businesses are robbed, it is almost always reported as an undisclosed amount. This begins to feel like some grab for publicity. I didn't and don't want to know their finances.
3:55 and 9:29 - 145 X 50 = 7.25M Why bare all?
Maybe I'd better attenuate the sensitivity of my drug-dealer detector; it's picking up blips at a range of 50 miles! Just happened to have $3,000 cash sitting around an apt that rents for one-fourth of that amount? I figure that somebody bought "something" a short while before, and their confederates went and ripped the cash back, but I'm a cynic.
7:36-
As I said in the post, I'm not happy the dollar amount ended up in the original news articles, because we normally don't talk about that. I suspect reporters heard it on the police scanner.
After the cat was out of the bag on Tuesday, I didn't see any sense in trying to stuff it back in on Wednesday.
We do a daily news briefing every weekday at 8:45 AM, so this wasn't some kind of "news conference"--just the ordinary daily briefing.
I thought it was important to get the information about the M.O. out, in case this suspect tries the same scam at other places--a logical possibility, as it also happened in the Dallas metropolitan area. Wednesday services in Lent are a pretty big deal in some congregations.
I am back as the 7:36 poster. I agree with the chief. And my comment about the new's conference refers to the one that the church held yesterday according to today's LJS.
Chief, I am a big fan - we are lucky to have you and no, I no, I am not a Kool Aid drinker.
As sad as it may be, this almost would seem like it may be an inside job knowing the procedure of the church depository practice. I find it hard to believe that the average thief would know when to show up for the exchange... unless of course they are smarter than the average joe and had been staking the place out.
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