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FAIRFIELD — Surveillance footage shows a brazen thief getting away with hundreds of dollars worth of security cameras from a Fairfield church.

It happened earlier this week at the Bethel Community Church on East Tabor Avenue.

The entrance gate to the church is normally open 24/7 but the pastor says he’s keeping it locked.

He says that’s how the thief got into the lot — getting away with three cameras worth around $750.

Beams lining the Bethel Community Church in Fairfield show signs of damage.

“Right here you can see where the camera was, he just reached up and yanked it down,” said Pastor Anthony Gilmore.

Gilmore says he noticed three of the church’s surveillance cameras were blacked out on security footage. That’s when he went to check it out.

“I came outside, looked around the facility and saw, a few hanging wires,” Gilmore said.

Surveillance footage shows the thief riding his bike into the church parking lot around 1:30 a.m. earlier this week. The thief attempts to steal an outdoor surveillance camera but couldn’t seem to get it loose.

Then, he moved on to the next one, pulling it down, before the footage goes to black.

“You feel violated when someone tries to take something from you. Here we are in the community trying to be a candle in the dark,” Gilmore said.

But Gilmore says this isn’t the first time someone has vandalized the church.

“In the past, we’ve had ‘the devil worshipper’ written on the building, graffiti written on the building,” he said.

While there will be security changes, Gilmore is hoping the thief doesn’t target his church again.

“You can’t succeed in life taking from other people,” Gilmore stated.