The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

January 3, 2007

Pair plead guilty to church vandalism

More than $350,000 in damage done

By Monica Pryts

WEST SALEM TOWNSHIP — Two Greenville-area men admitted doing more than $350,000 in damage to a West Salem Township church in July after prosecutors dropped most of the charges against them.

Michael Emph, 18, of 474 Donation Road, Otter Creek Township, and Anthony Toth, 18, 188 S. Summit Road, West Salem Township, each pleaded guilty Tuesday to criminal trespass and institutional vandalism before Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Thomas R. Dobson.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped charges of burglary, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, criminal mischief, desecration of venerated objects, conspiracy to commit burglary and a second count of institutional vandalism.

According to the police complaint:

Emph, Toth and a 16-year-old Greenville boy were drinking beer at a home on the evening of July 16, then drove around and talked about going to Living Word Christian Center and its parochial school, 21 S. Maysville Road. They parked at an empty house near the church and walked through a field.

They tried to open several doors before finding an open window. One of them climbed through the window and let the other two in through a door. Once inside, they walked around the church, school and some offices and played foosball.

They found a set of keys in a janitor’s closet and unlocked some offices. They stole three televisions, a video camera, keyboard, laptop computer, bass guitar and stereo system worth a total of $3,825. They loaded all of the items into the car and took them to two different homes. Some of the stolen items have been recovered.

When the Revs. Jan and Jim Chapin, church pastors and school administrators, arrived at the building July 17, they saw it had been broken into and extensively damaged. Two fire extinguishers had also been discharged throughout the building.

Police received anonymous tips about who was possibly involved with the burglary and vandalism. Emph, Toth and the boy were interviewed and they all admitted to the crime.

When the trio was charged in August, the Rev. Jan Chapin said no windows were left open or unlocked when she and her husband left the church July 16. She also said they don’t keep any keys around that would be easily accessible to anyone. She doesn’t think the burglars used keys to unlock the office doors because they were damaged.

Services and other church-related events were held at The Farm in Sugar Grove Township until Sept. 17 and the school reopened Sept. 5, a week later than planned to finish repairs, the Rev. Jim Chapin said Wednesday, adding he wasn’t aware the men had pleaded guilty.

“I didn’t know anything about it,” he said after The Herald asked him for a reaction to the pleas.

The Chapins are still in the process of determining with their insurance company the total value of damage, but Chapin confirmed the amount is at least $350,000.

“It’s quite sizable,” he said.

All of the carpets and ceiling tiles and some electronics had to be replaced and paperwork dating back to 1993 and books were shipped to Pittsburgh for professional cleaning, he said. All of the work was done by a restoration company.

“All of the physical work is done. The facility has been put back together,” Rev. Chapin said.

He said he and his wife, the congregation and 33 students were happy to return and have been holding up well since the burglary.

“The church congregation has grown as a result of it. We did not go backwards,” he said.

Emph and Toth will be sentenced Feb. 26 and the boy faces a hearing in juvenile court. Mercer County Public Defender Dana Flick said it’s too soon to tell what sentences the men could receive or whether they would have to help pay the damage costs.

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