Police probe church break-in

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff

Bo Repass was on his way home from work Wednesday around 8 a.m. When he took Exit 86 off Interstate 81 and turned onto East Lee Highway, he saw the big double doors on the northeast side of the Draper Valley Pentecostal Holiness Church were open.
“I drove around the other side of the church to see if there was a vehicle,” Repass said by phone Thursday morning. “There wasn’t one there. I came drove back around to the doors. I got out of the car and looked inside. That’s when I saw the door frames had been pried open.”
Repass quickly called Mike Ingo, the church’s pastor, on his cell phone. Ingo then called the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office to report the break-in.
According to Ingo, the burglars had kicked open the door to the church secretary’s office. They took a Fender Music Master electric bass guitar belonging to a church member; a Bank of America three-ring binder-style checkbook belonging to the church; Wachovia checks that were to a church account that had been closed; a Dell desktop computer with a 17-inch flat screen monitor, mouse and keyboard belonging to the church; and a Viewsonic DLP projector belonging to the church. Also taken was food from the kitchenette area of the church.
“I think they were pretty specific in what they took,” Ingo said earlier this week by phone. “I think they were looking for cash. We never keep any money in the church.”
The incident occurred sometime after the men’s prayer meeting Tuesday at 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. Wednesday. It is being investigated by the Sheriff’s Office.
“It takes a real low-down person to break into a church,” said Repass, whose parents Roger and Pam Repass are members of the Draper Valley Pentecostal Holiness Church.
In an unrelated case, the Sheriff’s Office has identified suspects in the vandalism of a bus and theft of money from the vehicle. Charges are expected as the investigation continues.
According to Chief Deputy Keith Dunagan, an officer was dispatched to the residence of Garland Dunford on Pope Road in Ivanhoe around 12:58 p.m. Wednesday. He was told by the victim that his 1987 International bus had eight windows broken and $20 in $5 bills were missing from the vehicle’s interior.
The Sheriff’s Office also has a suspect in the theft of a truck taken around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday from a residence on Old Bank Road. No charges have been lodged at this time.
Dunagan reported a deputy responded to a call from the residence and learned from John Callahan that his 1989 Ford Ranger pickup truck had been stolen. Callahan told the deputy the unlocked vehicle with no keys inside it had been parked in front of his residence, the chief deputy stated.
The victim, Dunagan said, told the officer his mother-in-law went outside at 2 a.m. to check on their dog and remembered seeing the vehicle then. Callahan got up at 6 a.m. to get ready for work and went to warm up the vehicle when he discovered it was missing, according to Dunagan’s report.
Callahan’s vehicle was later located on Main Street in Wytheville by another deputy, Dunagan said.
In a fire call this week, a space heater is believed to have caused a Wednesday afternoon blaze in the shop on the David and Maxey Aker dairy farm, according to Robert Walk of the Ivanhoe Volunteer Fire Department. Two vehicles inside the outbuilding were damaged.
Twelve firefighters and six trucks responded to the fire call on Old School Road in the Piney community around 4 p.m. They remained at the scene for 30 minutes.
Walk said the fire caused approximately $50,000 to a pickup truck and tractor. The building also was damaged by smoke and water, the fire chief said.
Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 228-6611 or .