Oregon man charged with ransacking Greensburg church

An Oregon man is accused of breaking into a Greensburg church and dismantling and disconnecting electronic equipment hours before Sunday worship was set to be broadcast live, according to police.

Timothy Lansdale, 55, was arraigned Monday on charges of burglary, criminal trespass, theft, receiving stolen property, criminal mischief and failing to register as a sex offender. The damage forced virtual worship at Otterbein United Methodist Church to be canceled, said Pastor Dawn Check.

Greensburg police were called to the College Avenue church just before 9:30 a.m. Sunday. Officers found the sound system dismantled, microphones damaged, an internet router disconnected and electronic equipment used with the organ and keyboard strewn around, according to court papers.

Police found cigarette butts and ashes around the building and that eight gift cards and a CD player were taken, according to court papers. Authorities got surveillance video of the suspect from inside the church.

At one point during the morning, Check said her daughter took drink orders and walked to a convenience store to pick up some refreshments when she spotted a man outside the church who resembled the suspect in the surveillance video. Check and others raced out and called police, who arrested him. Police said he had four of the missing gift cards.

“We just look at it like God was really with us,” Check said.

Services for Christmas Eve and this Sunday already are recorded and the church hopes to resume live broadcasts of worship in January, she said. Members of the congregation have prayed for Lansdale.

“How we respond to things is really important,” she said. “I’m very proud of my church that the response was love and not hate.”

Police found Lansdale was living in a bottom stairwell of the Bell Garage across the street from the church. Investigators learned that he is a registered sex offender in Oregon, according to court papers. His registration had not been updated to reflect that he was in Pennsylvania, police said.

A sex offender registry shows that he was convicted of felony offenses in 2002 and 2003 and last registered in 2014. He is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison without bond. Lansdale did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A Dec. 31 preliminary hearing is set.

He has been arrested three times this year in Allegheny County on burglary, criminal mischief and trespass charges, according to online court records.