Multiple United Methodist Church break-ins leave members feeling shaken and worried in Kearns

SALT LAKE CITY — Two break-ins and extensive vandalism within the span of five days have left members of a United Methodist Church in Kearns nervous to attend.

“They’re just worried that during worship that something else might happen or they might come back and just start problems in the church,” said Alicia Koloamatangi, who’s been attending the church since she was seven. 

Koloamatangi‘s parents served as lay leaders of the church until 2013, when her father passed away. Now she serves as treasurer of To AE Ofa United Methodist.

She said she and others walked into the church early Sunday, on Nov. 2, to prepare when they saw the damage.

“(It) seemed like someone just let the sink run; the water was overflowing on the floor,” Koloamatangi said. “They must have used like an axe to, like, trash everything. They ripped open the door with the axe. There was trash everywhere. Glass broken. The bathroom was trashed. There’s just a lot of trash everywhere inside the church hall.”

Then, just five days later, more damage was found with graffiti in the hallway.

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Sgt. Aymee Race with the Unified Police Department said it looked like someone had taken buckets of paint into the church hall for the graffiti. Police are working on the case, but because the church hasn’t been able to get cameras installed yet, she said officers could use some help.

“Whether you’re doing this or not, I just always keep in mind that you’re victimizing someone or a faith group or a group of people, and this isn’t the way to go about it,” Race said. “Please, you know, we just ask for the community’s help in coming forward so we can locate these individuals.”

Koloamatangi said their building might look unused from the outside, but there are still people who go there for church. There are generally 10 people who show up every week.

“My mom … she’s a little worried and she’s like, ‘It just makes me (feel) uncomfortable to come to church on Sundays because it just happened twice already, or four times now,'” Koloamatangi said.

Koloamatangi said their church has been broken into two other times in the last two years, bringing the total to four.

“This makes it hard to come to church. A place … where she felt safe. Now she (doesn’t) feel safe coming alone to the church because she doesn’t know if someone might come and do something else while we’re in the church,” Koloamatangi said.

Koloamatangi said she doesn’t understand why these things happen, but what she really would like is for the people who did this to come forward and do some community service.

“I know it’s not a big church, like one of those big mega churches, but the church might be small, but our faith is a lot bigger than that,” Koloamatangi said. “So I just pray and hope that they found what they were looking for. They got their stress taken out from destroying this congregation or the church.”

Race feels similarly.

“Kearns is a great community,” Race said. “A lot of people band together. You know, I personally am from that area myself. And so I would just love to see the work of the community and Kearns come together and help us find the individual or individuals responsible for this.”

To donate for renovations, Koloamatangi said money can be sent to the To AE Ofa United Methodist Church at American First Credit Union.

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