A 77-year-old Cattaraugus County man has pleaded guilty to burglarizing a church during Sunday Mass.
Gary Heinamn had burglars’ tools when he went to Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church in Ellicottville on November 29. He was spotted by a parishioner who noticed a stranger going through the side door and heading to the sacristy. She told her husband, who found Heinaman with a lockbox he had just taken from the church’s safe.
After Heinaman tried to run away, the first man and another man restrained him until police arrived.
Heinaman is scheduled for sentencing on January 17.