No keys, no problem for thieves

Whoever stole Chico Alliance Church’s riding lawn mower must not want the keys after all.

Chico Alliance Church still missing riding lawn mower.

Whoever stole Chico Alliance Church’s riding lawn mower must not want the keys after all.

Thieves stole the Bremerton church’s John Deere riding lawn mower and some Chico Christian Child Care supplies, ranging from hot chocolate to paper plates, from the sheds on their property in early September.

“They just took whatever struck their fancy I think,” Chico Alliance Church Pastor David Welch said.

Church officials posted a sign on their reader board shortly after the theft occurred and they and the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office have had no luck finding the culprits.

The sign came down this week.

Welch said the culprits cut the locks on the sheds behind the church to access the items. They also broke into a shed belonging to Crosspoint Academy, formerly called King’s West School, and stole thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment.

“King’s West lost a bunch of tools out of their shed,” Welch said.

The school has a camera facing its sheds, but it didn’t catch the culprits in the act.

“I think they’d done it before,” Welch said.

The church just bought the $2,000 riding lawn mower in March with money donated by church members.

“We don’t have the money right now to replace the lawn mower,” he said. “Somebody donated a used one for now. We might be able to get through ‘til spring.”