WHITMIRE — A break-in at a church could land three suspected burglars in prison for the next 20 years.

The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office has charged Kayla Anne Graydon, 18, 188 Crystal Cove Road, Chapin; Patrick Burton Olvey, 20, 236 Sampson Road, Gilbert; and James Richard Osborne, 20, 425 Holy Trinity Church Road, Little Mountain, with seven counts of second-degree burglary and one count of conspiracy in connection with a series of break-ins of Newberry County churches.

The break-ins began on June 26 at Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church in Little Mountain. The church was broken into a second time on June 29. In the first instance, nothing was taken. In the second, a television was taken. The television was recovered when the suspects were arrested in Lexington County Thursday afternoon.

Five other churches, including New Hope Baptist in Whitimire on July 12, were broken into. Nothing was taken from New Hope and two of the churches while “small change” was taken from the rest.

Maj. Todd Johnson of the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office said that while the television was estimated to cost $300, it is proving difficult to determine how much else was taken.

“Many churches have small offerings at their Sunday School classes and other groups take up offerings and keep them in their rooms,” Johnson said. “So we don’t really know how much was taken but we don’t believe it to be a large amount.”

If convicted, the suspects could receive up to 15 years in prison for each count of burglary and five years for the charge of conspiracy.

While they will eventually be brought back to Newberry County, Johnson said the suspects remain in custody in Lexington County where they are charged with 20 counts of burglary. He said those break-ins were also at churches.

When questioned about the break-ins the suspects told Newberry County and Lexington County investigators that they were breaking into the churches to pay for marijuana and motel rooms, Johnson said. He said they were moving from motel to motel in different communities and breaking into churches looking for cash or items they could sell quickly.

Most were forced entry, though in some cases the churches were not locked. Johnson said some churches leave their doors unlocked to allow members to come in and pray at any time of the day.

“That’s a practice we discourage because it makes access so easy,” he said. “It’s a pity we have to encourage churches to lock their doors, but we have to be realistic about the society we live in now.”