Pocatello police investigating break-in at Calvary Chapel
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POCATELLO — Officers are investigating a break-in at a Pocatello church, where an intruder vandalized the building’s interior and caused thousands of dollars of damage.
At 7 p.m. on Monday, Pocatello Police officers responded to a report of a break-in at Calvary Chapel, a Christian church located at 1633 Olympus Drive, which is currently hosting the Highland High School music department. Multiple items of property of both the music department and the church were damaged, and multiple places in the building were vandalized with a racist slur.
The church’s pastor, Nathan Abbate, was not available Tuesday afternoon for an interview with EastIdahoNews.com, but provided photos of the vandalism.
Lt. Akilah Lacey of the Pocatello Police Department said that the impact of the incident reaches further than just the church itself.
“It does have a wide community impact. … It impacts a lot of different people and a lot of moving parts in our community, and so I think people take this seriously, and … are hurt by it,” Lacey said.
Working together, the property owner and the police have made a preliminary estimate of the total damage at around $10,000.
Church staff reported to the police that a door to the church was left unlocked, Lacey confirmed. EastIdahoNews.com did not observe any damage to the exterior or the building, or signs of forced entry.
Multiple instruments, including an electric piano, a guitar, several bass guitars and other instruments used by the Highland Music Department were damaged in the incident. The church began to host the music department after a portion of the school was destroyed in a fire.
A post to the Life in Pocatello Facebook page by Emily Pugmire about the incident included a picture of an instrument that was indented in multiple places.
“Calvary Chapel has been a generous and integral partner in sustaining our Highland music programs following the 2023 fire, and we’re saddened to hear about the vandalism,” says Courtney Fisher, Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25 spokesperson, in a written statement to EastIdahoNews.com.
In addition to the damage done to instruments, multiple televisions, computer equipment, a whiteboard and a table received damage, and Lacey said that anointing oil was poured over the church’s soundboard. Multiple food items were removed from the fridge and strewn around the building.
One of the pictures received by EastIdahoNews.com appears to show multiple items thrown into a baptismal font. Another picture from the church shows a ceiling panel from the church’s front entrance panel out of place.
Lacey also confirmed that the building was vandalized with a racist slur, in multiple places around the building.
Pocatello Police are investigating this incident. At this point, Lacey said it’s not clear whether this incident was a crime of opportunity or planned.
But Lacey made it clear that it wouldn’t be tolerated.
“That’s not something that we want to see in our community, and we want to take care of it.”
Anyone with information on the incident should contact the Pocatello Police Department on its non-emergency line: 208-234-6100.
