7 News Belize

And while Castro was burnt out - the Lake Independence Baptist church was cleaned out by burglars.
They struck sometime this morning at the church - which is at the corner of Mahogany and Partridge Streets - a block away from a fully manned police substation.
But that was no deterrent to thieves who got in through an un-barred aluminum louver and helped themselves to thousands of dollars of professional sound equipment from the church band.

Pastor Ashley Rocke told us more:â€¦

Ashley Rocke, Lake I, Baptist Church
"Well we lost almost $22,000.00 worth of stuff. We lost two sets of sound systems, we lost all the speakers, all our instruments, we lost out LCD projector, everything: keyboards, guitars, even mics and to make matters worse you would think that they wouldn't go with this; they went with crayons that children used. Apart from that they thief the Belize flag."

Jules Vasquez
"Now, have you made a valuation of the complete losses?"

Ashley Rocke, Lake I, Baptist Church
"Well like I say I would estimate $22,000.00 worth of stuff. People may think that church don't have that, but trust me we have that. Jules, really we know who our enemy is, we are not trying to down anybody; we know who our enemy is and we know that to some degree this community don't want us here, but we are here for a purpose and we are not going nowhere."

Jules Vasquez
"Is there any appeal you would like make to anyone who is being offered to purchase these items?"

Ashley Rocke, Lake I, Baptist Church
"If somebody asks you to buy from them a 12 channel Yamaha mixer or a Sun mixer. If they ask you to buy a Suzuki keyboard or a Viewsonic LCD projector or anything like that; a bass red or black acoustic guitar please don't buy it from them. God will hold you guilty if you buy it from them."

The church has been in that location for over 20 years.