SANDY, Utah — Sandy police are asking for help in finding those who recently vandalized several buildings belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sandy.
Police received the first report of vandalism on Tuesday morning. Reports from five other chapels came in later, including similar damage at a church in Draper.
The vandalism contained messages referencing a recent report regarding the church's handling of sexual abuse cases. with what they'd written, and although it's not considered a hate crime, it's still against the law.
“When you get six all taking place in one night, I mean, it’s not out of the ordinary to have one or two here and there, but six all in one night is a little unusual,” said Sgt. Greg Moffitt with the Sandy Police Department.
Detectives are asking residents leaving near the churches to check their home security cameras to see if they may have captured any evidence of the crimes.
“It’s a totally different thing when you start defacing someone’s place of worship. Whether it be a Jewish synagogue or an LDS chapel, the fact of the matter is those are places of worship places that are sacred to their congregations," said Moffitt. "It’s disconcerting, it’s disheartening to see something like that happen to a church building.”
It's the second time in less than two months that church buildings have been in vandalized. Several suspects were arrested in July for vandalizing 14 churches in Washington County by breaking glass and causing approximately $5,000 in damages.
Anyone with information possibly relating to the incidents is asked to call Sandy Police.
