Semaj Munir Howard, 22, of the 4500 block of Marple Street and Gabriel E. Minnick, 23, of the 1800 block of West Ruscombe Street each received a six to 14 year sentence in a state correctional facility after pleading guilty to charges of burglary, conspiracy, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property stemming from 9 church break-ins in Philadelphia, Montgomery and Bucks Counties. The break-ins took place between between February 20th and March 17th, 2020.

Besides causing damage to the churches during the course of their crimes, the burglars stole safes, portable church communion kits, silver church communion trays, poor box donations, wine, televisions, precious metals and other electronics.

The following churches were burglarized during the crime spree: In Bucks County – the Church of the Wonderful in Lower Southampton.

In Montgomery County – Elkins Park Presbyterian in Abington; Reformed Presbyterian Church in Abington; St. Michael the Archangel in Abington; Huntingdon Valley Methodist Church in Lower Moreland; and St. John’s Lutheran Church in Cheltenham.

In Philadelphia – the Lehigh Baptist Church, Pennypack Baptist Church and the Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Church.

“They went on a serial burglary spree, targeting houses of worship, which is egregious on its own, but they also did it during the beginning of the pandemic when they knew that these churches would be vacant, and stole things, like going into donation jars,” said Assistant District Attorney Scott Frame.

Photos Courtesy of Montgomery County Court