Going to AA Meetings to Case Out Churches to Rob

Police say a drug-addicted ex-con admitted to robbing 12 churches on Staten Island. And Lonnie Faulk would attend "Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, then [come] back to raid poor boxes and candle collection plates," according to the Staten Island Advance. Apparently Faulk was arrested while attempting a 13th break-in, "using a screwdriver to break a basement window at the First Central Baptist Church." The church deacon, who said they had been previously robbed of rolls of quarters and some pens in August, so they installed metal bars, remarked, "It is really sad. If we could help him, we would, but we don't want the church broken into." Earlier this year, a Long Island man attending an AA meeting stole $40 from a church poor box to buy pot.