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Thief Steals Cheese From Church Days Before Pierogi Sale

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LATROBE (KDKA) -- State police are looking for a cheese thief in Westmoreland County.

It's been a terrible few weeks for Brenda Androstic, the new church secretary at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary church in Latrobe.

"We're trying to bounce back from everything coming screeching halt," she said.

Androstic was the person who discovered that, over the last few months, someone with a key apparently entered the church and stole thousands of dollars' worth of bingo supplies.

"There were backpacks and boxes of this and tickets and various things, and then they would not be there," she said. "You're talking almost $3,000 just with that ... There was a ticket counter that was valued at between $1,500 and $1,800. It was brand new. It is gone."

The loss is so dramatic, the church bingo had to be cancelled for reorganization. And bingo supplies wasn't all that was stolen...

"Who would steal cheese from a church days before a pierogi sale?" Androstic said.

In addition to stealing bingo supplies, someone swiped 4 pounds of Colby-Jack cheese that was going to be used to make the potato filling in pierogis. The cheese theft forced the church to cancel a pierogi sale that had been planned well in advance.

"It's not Christian, you know? It's church, and you are stealing cheese from a church," Androstic said.

State police continue to investigate this theft, and they apparently have some good leads. In addition to all the money lost as a result of the thefts, the church had to replace all its locks, which cost an additional $450.

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