LONGMONT — Longmont police believe they have caught the church burglar.
On Monday afternoon, police arrested 30-year-old Luis Grine on suspicion of numerous church break-ins in April, in one case breaking into the same church twice. The burglaries netted $12,800 of stolen goods, including gift cards, cash and a laptop computer.
Cmdr. Jeff Satur of the Longmont Police Department said Grine had a previous 2011 arrest for stealing $7,000 of items from the First Lutheran Church, including a French horn, some drums and a 32-inch television. That helped to identify him, Satur said, when police began going through surveillance video and witness statements.
“It’s a pretty unique crime pattern,” Satur said.
The stolen gift cards also helped track down the suspect, Satur said, after a task force managed to get the transaction records and trace how and where the cards had been used. Ultimately, Satur said, the task force served six court orders, conducted lengthy surveillance, and reviewed hours of video footage from the gift card providers.
“The officers and detectives just did a ton of work,” Satur said.
About $5,600 of property damage was done during the burglaries.
The possible charges against Grine include 11 counts of second-degree burglary, three counts of third-degree burglary, three counts of attempted third-degree burglary, one count of felony theft over $1,000 and one count of felony criminal mischief over $1,000. The counts include two break-ins to an office that was unrelated to the churches.
Satur said no further arrests were expected in the burglaries, though police are still looking into who else has been using the stolen gift cards. Using or receiving stolen property is a crime.
“We still need to do some work on that,” he said.
None of the gift cards have been recovered. Police believe they are being used in the Longmont and Denver metro area.
Grine is from Longmont, but recently was living with his brother in Arvada, according to police.
Officers arrested Grine at 3:30 p.m. Monday after an interview at the police station.
The burglaries appear to have begun April 11, although the first one wasn’t reported until April 17. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church was hit twice; related burglaries or attempted burglaries were reported at Longs Peak United Methodist Church, Templo El Sinai, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Messiah Lutheran Church, Central Presbyterian Church, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church.
An attempted break-in at Ambassador Baptist Church and a theft of a box of keys at Longmont Church of the Nazarene at around the same time period are not thought to be related to the case, according to Officer Aubrey Odle.
Not every one of the attempted thefts was successful. At Messiah Lutheran, for example, a safe’s handle was torn off but the safe itself had not been opened.
The amount taken varied widely from church to church. Longs Peak United Methodist said it had lost gift cards worth several thousand dollars; its safe was mangled but not successfully opened. At the other extreme, Bethlehem Lutheran lost $300 in petty cash, while Messiah Lutheran saw $160 in milk money and $250 in gift cards taken.
Anyone with additional information about the burglaries is asked to call the Longmont Police Department at 303-651-8501 or Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Tips may also be left online at
