Cops: Man took keyboards, cash, chalices from three churches

Freeport police on Wednesday arrested a Freeport man and charged him with the burglaries of three churches, thefts that police said took place in January and September, Nassau County police said.

Nassau police First Squad detectives said David Spencer, 37, of High Place, burglarized churches in Baldwin, Freeport and Roosevelt by breaking a window and swiping "Yamaha keyboards, cash, a mountain bike, assorted jewelry and ceremonial chalices."

His attorney could not be reached for comment.

Police said Spencer robbed Memorial Presbyterian Church at 189 Babylon Tpke. in Roosevelt on Jan. 1, Perfecting Faith Church at 311 N. Main St. in Freeport on Jan. 2, and Bethlehem Lutheran Church at 1375 Grand Ave. in Baldwin on Sept. 23.

Spencer is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in First District Court in Hempstead on 18 counts of third-degree burglary, petty larceny, fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

Freeport Police officers located Spencer on Commercial Street in Freeport and placed him under arrest, Nassau police said, adding that Spencer was a suspect in a Great Neck burglary in November 2014.