DETROIT – Last week, Local 4 told you about a Detroit church that had been targeted by thieves 12 times. Since then, Total Life Change Ministries Church has been struck for the 13th time.
Church leaders are afraid they won't be able to recover from the recent incidents.
On Sunday night, thieves stole a radiator and copper pipe, valued at more than $15,000.
"I didn't expect to hear they went into the tunnels again," Apostle Michael Beasley said.
Beasley said his church has been targeted repeatedly by sophisticated thieves.
"They didn't cut pipes out," Beasley said. "The water was on. They knew how to turn the water off, knew how to take them loose."
The 13 break-ins have happened over the last three years. Copper pipes, wires, sound systems and equipment valued at tens of thousands of dollars has been ripped from the walls.
"These are people who don't understand what a ministry is," Beasley said.
He believes the last two break-ins are connected. Thieves got inside the church the same way, by using a sledgehammer to bust open a cinder block wall.
"This was not some random person," Beasley said. "They knew what they were doing."
Total Life Change Ministries is at the former Herman Rogers Academy on Detroit's west side. The building is 177,000 square feet, and it's bought and paid for by the congregation.
"We weren't stupid," Beasley said. "We knew what we were doing. We had a plan. It looks like they took it and destroyed it."
Beasely said he's at his wit's end, and he asked the thieves to help them instead of hurt them.
"Come and help us," Beasley said. "Don't hurt us. I just want them to leave us alone."