Thieves Steal A/C Units From Oak Cliff Church

Six air-conditioning units stolen before Easter Sunday

An Oak Cliff church is looking to come up with tens of thousands of dollars to replace air-conditioning units stolen just before the Easter weekend.

All six A/C units at David's Chapel Missionary Baptist Church next to the Dallas Executive Airport disappeared in the same night.

Whoever stole them knew what they were doing, even using power tools to cut through thick metal security bars enclosing each one.

"They didn't care about the signs that said a burglar alarm," the Rev. Solomon Robeson said. "They tore it up to get in."

Church leaders already know insurance won't cover the entire cost of replacing the six units and hope someone will step forward to help defray the church's cost.

"I don't know -- probably $10,000 apiece -- so you're talking maybe $60,000," Robeson said. "I don't know how we'll do it. We don't have $60,000."

The church has two weddings scheduled this weekend and hopes to get at least two A/C units installed before Sunday.

Church members said they are still shocked by the thefts.

"I mean how can you just come up on God's property and take from his house?" the Rev. Franklin McCorkle said.

More than a dozen fans placed throughout the church struggled to keep the 300 church members cool during Sunday's two-hour service.

"We used every fan we had. We had every fan blowing. We had all the blowers out," church member Mar-K Craddock said. "It was very hot in here. It's still just kind of sticky, kind of sticky up in here. People didn't sit too close to each other."

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