WARREN, Mich. – Two days after Thanksgiving, a man walked into the Sacred Heart Chaldean Church in Warren and took the donation box right off the wall and left.
Surveillance video shows a white Chevrolet truck driving away. The next day, Detective James Wolfe of the Warren Police Department got another case.
"The very next day, I got assigned another incident where a church had cash boxes and the suspect attempted to pry off the cash boxes, and another white truck was seen," Wolfe said.
That incident happened at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, just a few miles away from Sacred Heart. This time, members of the church saw the man and approached him. One parishioner told us the story over the phone.
"When we saw the guy, I said, 'What are you doing here? The church is closed.' He started walking and he said, 'Sorry, sorry.' And I knew something wasn't right," he said.
That parishioner asked not to be identified, but he did his part in identifying the suspect by following his car out of the parking lot and snapping a picture of the license plate.
"The church is like my second family. I had to help," he said.
The picture was a big help.
The plate helped police identify Francis Waryas, a 53-year-old Warren man. Once in police custody, police said Waryas admitted to hitting other churches -- four of them in Warren and one in Madison Heights.
Detective Wolfe suggests churches take precautions this time of year.
"They should put these boxes where people are around more," he said. "Because this type of crime can cripple a community at a time when they need it the most."