Police: Thief Burglarizes, Attempts To Blow Up Muskogee Church

Muskogee police hope to find a thief who burglarized a church and tried to cause a deadly explosion.

Sunday morning, the pastor of Iglesia Cristiana Church on Cromwell Street in Muskogee discovered the church had been burglarized - the thief broke through a window and took off with about $1,500 worth of electronics.

Churches can sometimes be easy targets since, often, there's no one there except on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Corporal Michael Mahan with Muskogee Police said, "We're not dealing with an occupied building. We are dealing with a building where property is kept, so that's an easy target for burglars."

The thief left things scattered everywhere, which isn't out of the ordinary, but what happened next was.

"When our officers arrived they could still smell the real strong odor coming out of that area," Mahan said.

Investigators said, before leaving, the thief turned on the gas stove in the church and lit a candle only about twenty feet away.

Mahan said they believe the person was trying to cause an explosion and set the church on fire.

An explosion could have killed the officers and pastor, blown up the church, and caught homes in the neighborhood on fire.

"Any type of natural gas explosion could have been catastrophic, not only to the church but a lot of people," Mahan said.

Investigators think the broken window, and the thief leaving a door open when he left, kept the gas from building up enough to ignite.

Officer said they don't have any leads or suspects, so they hope the public can help.

"It's bad enough that someone would be bold enough to want to break into a church and steal, but whoever did this went a little above and beyond." said Mahan.

Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to call the Muskogee Police tip line at 918-682-COPS.