A Dauphin County woman is accused of smashing two stained glass windows of a Schuylkill County church last month. She reportedly told police she wanted to get inside to have a warm place to sleep.
State Police say they were on patrol during the overnight hours of Oct. 27 when they got a report shortly after 4:30 a.m. of a woman loudly yelling and banging on the door and windows of Suedberg Church of God in Pine Grove Township.
Shortly before 5 a.m., Troopers say they arrived at the church and saw a broken window on the east side of the church. When they went to open the church’s front door, police say Paige Smink, 32, of Halifax, opened the door and exited the building.
Smink was taken into custody and questioned at the scene. She reportedly told police that she’d been drinking at a friend’s house in Branch Township and got a ride from two friends to the Tractor Supply Store outside Pine Grove.
Smink said she then walked to Suedberg Church of God and got cold so she broken a stained glass window of the church by pulling it off its hinges. She said she went into the church and had plans of warming up inside the rest of the night. Police say Smink believed she was in the church for about three hours prior to their arrival.
During their investigation at the scene, police say they noted two shattered stained glass windows. A wooden bench had been pulled in front of a broken window.
Police say they damage estimate on the windows is about $5,000.
Smink is facing felony charges of burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, and institutional vandalism against a place of worship.
Court records show Smink has not been arraigned on these charges, as of Thursday night (Nov. 6).
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