Churches, libraries and schools: Burglary victims share “disappointment”

Whitman County Sheriff’s Office identified Christina Erlewine and Justina Buffington as possible suspects in the early-morning robberies in western Whitman County and Lincoln County Saturday, Sept. 24. Sheriff Brett Myers said it is “very likely” Erlewine and Buffington are connected to burglaries in nearby counties.

During the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 24, two burglars made their way through the western portion of the county, allegedly stealing cash and electronic items in the small communities of Endicott, St. John and Lamont. Two church burglaries were also reported in Sprague the same day.

“It’s not so much the stuff, but more of the principle behind it,” said Phil Misner, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Endicott. “It was too bad.”

A laptop and a bluetooth keyboard were stolen from the Trinity Lutheran Church. Pastor Misner said there was no forced entry into the church itself, but the door to the office, where the laptop and keyboard were located, was forced open.

“It’s unfortunate and disappointing more so rather than a violation,” he said.

Pastor Misner said the burglary at the church was discovered when a janitor came to clean the building that Saturday morning about 6:30 a.m.

According to the Whitman County Sheriff’s log, the call regarding the burglary came in at 8:25 a.m. Deputies had already been in Endicott that morning after responding to the burglary alarm at the Endicott school at 3:56 a.m.

“They think they went to the school first, where they were able to obtain a key to the church building,” Pastor Misner said.

Trinity Lutheran is the school’s off-site emergency shelter. If students and staff ever need to evacuate the building, the church is the place they would go. The alleged burglars, it is believed, found the labeled keys to the church building when stealing money from the school’s cash box. Pastor Misner said it is believed they used the keys to enter the church building and then force entry into the locked office. He also noted he is not sure if other keys were on the ring stolen from the school.

St. John/Endicott Superintendent Suzanne Schmick also called the burglaries a disappointment.

“It’s disappointing. These organizations, we’re not large on our means,” she said. “Our work is similar in that we’re working together for the good of families and children, and to think that these places are targeted is sad.”

Supt. Schmick said the school has worked to clean up and repair damage, which included a broken window and broken glass in the school office, and also to return to “business as usual” and evaluate office protocols.

“We have re-examined our office protocols with what we do each day and what remains in a drawer and what doesn’t,” she said. “It’s been a good conversation, and we’ve changed our practices. We’re re-examining our security measures and continuing our work to strengthen that.”

Supt. Schmick also said the school had a conversation with students after the robberies.

“Between children and staff we had what I like to call fireside chats to gain an understanding of what goes on,” she said. “We’re demonstrating to them to push toward business as usual and that we persevere and coach them to be prideful of their school.”

Supt. Schmick also noted she is pleased with the response of the Whitman County Sheriff’s Office.

“I’m so very pleased with their response. We are very grateful they’re still working on this,” she said. “In our hearts, we hope justice will be served.”

Also in Endicott, the library was robbed. Library Director Tia Langston said it was a shock to discover the places in Endicott that were burglarized.

“The places that were chosen, they’re all giving sorts of places,” she said.

The library was broken into via a window on a door which was broken, and then the door was subsequently opened. The thieves were able to take more than $200 in cash that was on hand for Friends of the Library, coffee and postage. They also took a camera, cords and activity bags.

“It was almost $700 worth of stuff, and then the cost of the door,” said Langston.

The library is also raising funds for a new air conditioning unit, but that money is kept in a bank account.

“We don’t keep that money on hand,” said Langston.

The day the robberies were discovered, Langston said she was working around the corner from the library at the Endicott Food Center when someone came in and told her they had driven by and thought they had seen a flyer go through the window.

“They had seen something weird with the window,” said Langston. “And then someone taking a walk came in the store and let me know about the window.”

Langston said she then went to the library, and then called the sheriff’s office when she could confirm it had been burglarized. At that point, she said, she had heard a little bit about what had happened at school. She said her call to the sheriff’s office was the third or fourth one they had received that morning. Her call came in at 11:42 a.m.

Langston also said another friend told her that when she was leaving Endicott around 4 a.m. the morning of the robberies for work, she thought it was weird that a car was parked outside the library.

“She didn’t think anything of it though,” said Langston.

Her friend then saw the sheriff’s deputies driving into town.

Sheriff Brett Myers said it would be “complete speculation” to say the sheriff’s office was in town at the same time the library or church were being robbed.

“There’s absolutely that possibility,” he said. “But that would be complete speculation.”

Sheriff Myers did say that based on surveillance captured at some of the locations, it is believed the burglars moved from north to south, first hitting two churches in Sprague and then moving into Lamont, St. John and Endicott.

The Christian Life Assembly Church in St. John was also burglarized. Here, the burglars made off with several electronic devices after breaking a door to get into the building. The call came into the sheriff’s office at 12:20 p.m. after Pastor Denny Hinds went to the church.

“I’m there most everyday,” said Hinds, noting it was routine for him to head there that morning.

Hinds said his initial reaction was “why?”

“It’s like why? It’s schools and churches,” he said. “We know that they do it because they’re soft targets, but it’s still why?”

Pastor Hinds said he asked his congregation to pray for the burglars at worship services the next day.

“The Bible teaches to forgive,” he said. “It doesn’t mean there isn’t consequences, but we need to forgive.”

The Lamont Community Church, where the break-in was reported at 2:28 p.m. Sept. 24, came out relatively unscathed.

“They didn’t take anything,” reported Pastor Dave Rajala. “They just went in and went out.”

A window was broken at the church, the only indication of a break-in.

“It was a blessing for us,” said Rajala.

At Lamont Middle School, where the robbery was reported to the sheriff’s office at 12:20 p.m. Sept. 24, Superintendent/Principle Joe Whipple said he was glad things were not worse.

“I was a little surprised because I heard they took electronic equipment from other places, and they just took a cash box from us,” he said. The cash box, he noted, was located near electronic devices.

Windows were broken at the Lamont school, including to the resource room, office and a teacher’s room.

“We had to repair them,” said Whipple.

Whipple noted that in his more than 30 years at the Lamont school, where there are approximately 30 students, there have been a couple different robberies.

“I haven’t gotten a lot of reaction other than shock,” he said. “We sat down the following Monday with the kids and explained what had happened. Some of them were concerned.”

He still said he felt fortunate things were not worse.

“They certainly did quite a number in little Lamont and other places,” he said. “I’m just happy they didn’t do a lot more.”

Whipple noted the surveillance cameras at the school caught the suspects, but they had their faces covered, so a positive identification was difficult. On Monday, Oct. 3, however, the sheriff’s office announced two suspects in the case. Warrants were issued for the arrests of Christina Erlewine, 23, and Justina Buffington, 31, both of Clarkston.

According to a report by Sheriff Brett Myers, deputies here were contacted Friday, Sept. 30, by Clarkston Police who had information on the two suspects believed to be involved in burglaries in Benewah County last week and possibly linked to the ones in Whitman County. After comparing information and video surveillance videos, deputies were able to connect the town investigations and subsequently issued warrants for Erlewine and Buffington.

Supt. Schmick said this demonstrated the ability of the sheriff’s office here to work cooperatively.

“It’s a great example of working with another agency,” she said.

Sheriff Myers agreed that this investigation shows cooperation between different agencies.

“This was really, really an excellent bit of police work,” he said.

He reported Tuesday that one item has been recovered in connection with a robbery from a church in Lind, which occurred the same week as the robberies in western Whitman County. He said it is very likely the Lind robberies are linked with the Whitman County and Benewah County robberies.

“They are just kind of going everywhere,” he said.

He also reported that on Monday this week deputies in Grangeville contacted the sheriff’s office here about a possible connection.

“A couple of churches were hit in Grangeville a couple of months ago,” he said.

Sheriff Myers said it is obvious this is a burglary spree, and that sprees often end up being in multiple areas.

“Often times they do link into other counties,” he said. “We can hope that at one location there’s a break in the case.”

He said that when the suspects are eventually caught and taken into custody, he hopes for cooperation.

“I don’t know why they are targeting churches, libraries and schools, other than that there’s nobody there at 2 a.m.,” he said. “We do hope that they cooperate. When churches and libraries and schools are burglarized, that affects the entire community.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 509-397-6266.