An inside motion alarm went off at a Dayton church early Friday morning, but the church administrator ignored the notification because of previous false alarms that resulted in fines.
This time the motion sensor had picked up the movements of a burglar inside the Debre Hail Kidus Gebriel Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, 300 Maryland St., according to the Dayton police report.
Someone had used a large rock to break glass and gain entry. Once inside, the burglar grabbed a 42-inch Samsung flatscreen television and fled, according to the report.
The victim told officers he didn’t think to call police when the alarm went off because the church had been previously fined nearly $1,000 for false alarms that police were called to check, according to the report.
An evidence crew processed the scene. No arrests had been made as of Sunday afternoon.
