Deputies with the Newton County Sheriff's Office recovered some of the items stolen from one church after thieves found it was better to receive than give as they reportedly burglarized two churches in Newton County over the weekend.

Lt. Tyrone Oliver with the Newton County Sheriff's Office said sound system equipment that was stolen from Little Bethel Baptist Church located at 400 McMahon Road on Sunday was recovered in the wood line area near the intersection of Brown Bridge Road and Crowell Road on Tuesday.

He said a crime scene technician processed the equipment before anyone touched it to obtain finger prints.
"We are still actively searching for evidence or clues of who put it there," Oliver said.

The recovered items found were returned back to the church. An estimated $6,150 worth of items were stolen from the church after a burglary that reportedly happened some time between Oct. 16 and Oct. 20.

According to an incident report from NCSO, one of the church members noticed the front door to the church had been kicked in and that sound system equipment had been stolen including microphones, speakers and a sound board.

Inside the pastor's study, all of the desk drawers had been gone through and pulled out. Several other items had been moved around inside the study, including a clock that was hanging on the wall with the illustration of Jesus Christ on the clock's face.

"The clock had been taken off the wall and placed face down on the pastor's desk," the NCSO report said.

A large fish bowl containing about $500 of donations for the church's youth was also taken from the pastor's study.

In the church's kitchen, two refrigerators were stolen one of which contained the church's communion supplies, a microwave oven, three ceiling fans, which had been donated and a large metal antique fan were also taken from the area.

The deputy reported that it appeared the suspects took the stolen items outside from the kitchen area because two exterior doors in the kitchen had been unlocked.

In another case, deputies met with a woman at St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church located at 100 Eleanor Drive earlier Sunday morning also in reference to a burglary.

The woman said while she was preparing food for the Newton County Food Bank on Saturday, she noticed that several cases of canned food were missing.

She said the burglary occurred some time between Oct. 14 and Oct. 20.

The estimated value of the canned goods stolen was about $200.