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Oct 2, 2008 7:59 pm US/Central
Fake Courier Steals Keller Church Offerings
Thief Hits Frisco Church The Same Day
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
The search is on for a thief who stole nearly $30,000 from a church in north Fort Worth.
It appears the same criminal may have hit a second church in Frisco, on the same day.
The Fellowship of the Parks Church is a place of prayer and worship. Those who sit inside the church come to feel safe, but someone took advantage of that house of God this week.
Pastor Doug Walker is upset and disturbed. "I guess nothing's sacred," he said.
Monday morning, a man posing as a courier walked into the Fellowship of the Parks Church on North Beach Street and said he was there to pick up the weekly offerings.
Walker says there was nothing unusual about it. "It is standard practice that we do with our bank. They contract with the courier to pick those [offerings] up."
After examining the man's ID and credentials, a church worker handed over nearly $30,000 in deposits. Then something strange happened.
"When the real courier showed up an hour later, he asked for the deposit. We said we already gave it to one or your guys," Walker explained. "And he said, 'well let me make a call'. We found out very quickly that no courier had been there."
The exact same thing happened at a Frisco church later the same morning. This time it was Saint Philip's Episcopal Church that was hit, a church that uses the same courier service as Fellowship of the Parks.
Walker says now he is concerned for other congregations. "We just want people to be aware, because if it happened to us and it happened to another church on the same day, it could easily happen to someone else."
The Fellowship of the Parks is contacting all of its members to encourage them to cancel the checks they wrote to the church this week and advising that they keep an eye on their bank accounts.
Both the Fort Worth and Frisco Police Departments are investigating the thefts.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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