Police arrest suspect who allegedly burglarized several churches in Fairfax County

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FAIRFAX COUNTY, Virginia. – Police in Fairfax County have arrested a man accused of breaking into several churches over a period of months.

Steven Hildner of Sterling is suspected of committing a total of seven church burglaries, investigators said. They added that the burglaries date back to April, with the most recent occurring just last week. The churches are located in Burke, Fairfax Station, Chantilly, Annandale and Oakton.

“You'd think these places would be safer places, right? I don't like the idea of ​​people breaking into them,” said Jouhn Borja, who lives near Annandale Calvary Church, one of the places police said was raided in August.

“To be honest, I’m not necessarily surprised,” added Derrick Parks, president and CEO of Metropolitan Protective Services.

This is mainly because there have been many places of worship that have been the victims of burglaries in the past. For example, FOX 5 reported to its viewers on a church in Silver Spring that was broken into in March. Just last month, a man was accused of stealing an air conditioning unit from a church in District Heights.

According to Parks, there are two main reasons for this. First, churches are often unoccupied most of the week. And there is often not much security staff.

“At the average church, there aren't really many trained security guards,” Parks explained. “The reality is that churches become easy targets.”

Attempts to reach a representative of Hildner for comment on Monday were not immediately successful.