Heartbroken.....

[Cosmo Dalton]

This reminds me of an episode of "Scared Straight" where this Nazi looking guy was telling the kids how low his F#%k meter runs. He was apparently locked up for robbing a church and he told the kids he loved thinking about all the homeless people that couldn't eat the next day because he stole the food too. Clearly a D-Bag who needs to be voted off this worldly island via public hanging or firing squad. Which brings me to my next point. I share the same contempt for your local trash.

 

[Aberdumbie]

Wow.... My gig is at my church. I leave my gear there because in my mind it felt safer to me. My home has been broken into before and some old coins I had collected were taken. The youngster that did the deed bragged about crawling thru my dog door at school to the wrong person. So fortunately I recovered most of what was taken but I never got over the feeling of being violated. Reading Josh Thatguys post, I believe I need to re-think my views on keeping my gear in my church. I felt like most others... Who the heck would steal from a place of worship??? Worse yet, our church would be relatively easy to get into. We want it that way. Sadly Josh is so right on societal degradation.... I do hope you recover what was taken and my prayers are with you.

 

[NJSouth]

i share your pain, Brother. I lost a trombone in a church burglary about 6 years ago. Kids broke into church and just destroyed the place. Set off fire extinguishers, smashed my trombone to pieces. Insured yeah but we both know that its more than that. Shoot me a PM when you can with your church's info.

I hope you did report it to the police. If you have receipts it can be entered NCIC. Put stuff on Facebook and on your local community page. When a parent suddenly sees a kid with a brand new bass they will hopefully call in on them. Several crimes in my area have been solved via Facebook posts.

 

[Growlmonkee]

I'm sorry you lost your bass, that sucks. people who plan out stealing someone's music gear, or any other personal items do not have a care at all, as to where they steal it from, home, gig, church, car, matters not to them at all. NJSouth has some good advice, the guys who took this stuff are almost certainly gonna try to sell it locally, Facebook, Craigslist, Twitter, and the police are good sources of possibly getting it back, check in with all pawn shops in the area too, to let them know about it, it's hard to sell things like that bass without letting quite a few people know that it's for sale.

 

[spiritbass]

In regards to the thief: you reap what you sow. Many people insist on learning this the hard way. God's justice will prevail.

 

[Minirehak 212]

Now I'm not religious or anything but breaking into a church is just low. To some people that's the safest place they got and someone is just gonna go and do that, Is it that hard to find a job for money?
I'm sorry this happened. I know I'd be pretty bummed out if it happened to me

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

It takes a special kind of jerk to steal from a church.
Not just the gear being gone, but it has got to make you feel really violated.
My home was burgled in 1985. The police told me they would likely be back. Burglars want to spend as little time as possible, but if they see things they want, they will come back prepared to take it.
They did. We moved. We didn't loose any gear, it was elsewhere, but we did loose my wife's third generation silverware. That was when silver was very high and the set was valued at $25,000. Insurance replaced most of it, but a couple of items were no longer available.

 

[MaddAnthony_59]

WOW! This brings back Memories. (Sad ones) We were in Lent services (Wed Evening), and the Church & Pastor's offices were at the opening of the sanctuary. 2 weeks in a row someone walked in and took the new Computers and Wireless phone system. We left them a Note the 3rd week...

Sorry for your loss. Hopefully it will turn up.

 

[Razman]

Several years ago we had some gear stolen from out church. Coincidentally on the one night the alarm wasn't alarmed, but supposedly they vetted the person who locked down that night so I don't know if it was coordinated or not but I digress (and God knows all anyway).

We have a theater we use for concerts and plays in our building (adjacent to the sanctuary) and on said night thieves used a sledge hammer (from our own tool shed mind you!) to smash through the cinderblock wall next to a back door! They opened the door and made off with a couple of bass cabinets, a guitar amp & cab, and our 48 channel Mackie sound board - among some other things. They even helped themselves to some sodas from a fridge in our concessions area!

We had some cameras and I think that helped (one perp was caught and we recovered a guitar amp) but insurance took care of the rest. Still, to go through a brick wall? That's brazen.

I'll keep my bass at the church when we are playing often enough but most times I bring it home with me. My pedal board stays there when we're set up for live shows but right now it too is at home. We have additional security so in the event it happens again we'll be better prepared.

Eric

 

[Malak the Mad]

Regardless of one's religious views or superstitions about a brick-and-wood building being holy or sanctified, the fact that church burgs are such a common occurrence is a simple and sad reflection upon the degradation of society overall. And a very justifiable reason for having, if someone like myself chooses, a very misanthropic and realistic outlook on the world around us, near or far. In case nobody is noticing, the world is a crappier place day by day. Things (society) are falling apart all over. I don't have the solutions (but I have ideas, though waaaaay too un-PC to expect to ever be used), I just have knowledge and awareness.

It may be a bit of cold comfort, Josh, but this is hardly a "New Low" on the part of society. Places of worship have been the target of thieves for literally thousands of years. Some of the most notable occurrences come from out of the Dark and Middle Ages. Churches and monasteries were the places where you'd reliably find the highest concentrations of local wealth (Bob knows, the serfs/peasantry didn't have much to spread around! ) Heck, the beginning of the "Viking Age" started with the sacking of Lindisfarne Monastery in the late-Eighth Century. And don't get me started on the Fourth Crusade, what with the Byzantine (re: Greek-Orthodox Christian) capital of Constantinople being besieged and looted by the very "crusaders" who decided to take a detour on their way to the Holy Land.

So, if nothing else, it may only seem bleak since we're much better informed these days. Nowadays, news travels fast and "if it bleeds, it leads". As much as the OP's situation sucks, at least there was no loss of life & limb.

On a side-note, I think we can rule out "Vikings" and "Mutinous Crusaders" as the prime suspects…they rarely left anyone alive.