Burglar strikes at Lynn church

LYNN – Lynn police are searching for a sinner.Someone broke into a Baltimore Street church Tuesday, stole a computer and monitor and attempted to steal a safe.Lifepoint Church senior Pastor Randall Smith says thieves used a crowbar to break through a 100-year-old door to get into his office.”I’m just glad there wasn’t somebody here to get caught in the middle of it,” he said.No other items were stolen and Smith says the monetary value of the missing objects is minimal.”In terms of dollars and cents it was not a whole lot but in terms of ministry, the value was quite a bit,” said Smith, adding that nearly 30 years worth of data was stored on the computer. “It’s easy to replace but work you have to recreate.”The safe might have been too heavy for the crook – or crooks – to steal. Police said it was taken from Smith’s office and found in a breezeway in between the church’s two buildings.According to Smith, the responding police officer said it was the sixth break-in he responded to Tuesday morning and it was only 10 a.m.”Their (police officers) philosophy is that they see so much of this because of the drug trade in Lynn, they’ve become kind of hardened to it,” Smith, a Farris Road resident, said. “For a religious person, it’s all about your choices in life. But for the drug addict, it’s all about the next hit. They’re not thinking too deeply.”Smith says he hopes his original computer is returned and the suspects are “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” once they’re caught.He says he doesn’t think his organization was targeted because of its religious affiliation, which is Pentecostal.”We’re one of just a number of many organizations and businesses that [thieves] deal with,” Smith said.Police say the theft likely occurred between 10 p.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Tuesday.