Thieves Steal $5,000 Worth of Equipment from the Garden Church

By Hunter Chase, Community News Reporter

On Jan. 5, several people broke into the Feed and Be Fed Garden at 1:30 a.m. and stole $5,000 worth of equipment. This equipment was used by the Garden Church, which meets there every Sunday. The thieves took a complete sound system and a gas-powered generator, said Peter Rothe, president of the board of directors for Feed and Be Fed.

“We’re doing our best to recover,” Rothe said. “It’s not a devastating loss, but for a nonprofit and a church, the loss constitutes a substantial part of our budget. And we’re soliciting donations online.”

Rothe said the sound equipment was worth about $2,500, and included portable speakers, amplifiers and microphones. The generator was borrowed from a friend of the church, and the church will now need to pay him back.

The Rev. Dr. Amanda Adams Riley, lead pastor of the Garden Church, said there weren’t any security cameras installed in the garden itself when the thieves broke in. The church had just purchased a camera, but had not yet installed it.

Rothe said that the San Pedro Historic Waterfront District, of the PBID, did have cameras nearby and

[See Eggs, p. 4] picked up footage of the thieves entering the garden. Based on that footage, the PBID was able to tell Rothe how long they were in the garden.

“They were here actually for over an hour, inside,” Rothe said. “That initial break-in took place about 1:30 in the morning. And then again at 7, somebody else, another individual, seeing it open, or maybe related to the original, came in.”

None of the items that were stolen were insured.

“The insurance company doesn’t recommend

[See Garden Church, p. 3]

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