By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

MAYLENE – The Alabaster Police Department has arrested a 32-year-old Birmingham man and charged him with the theft of more than $1,000 in music equipment and $5,000 in damages from a church on Shelby County 17 in Maylene.

Police arrested Aaron Michael Cox on Nov. 20 and charged him with one count of third-degree burglary, one count of second-degree theft of property and one count of third-degree criminal mischief.

At about 9:40 a.m. on Nov. 16, the Cedar Grove Holiness Church in the 7300 block of Shelby County 17 contacted the police department to report the breaking and entering and theft.

According to the police department’s incident report, a cream and white guitar valued at $400, a Mustang amplifier valued at $300, a Fender electric bass guitar valued at $400 and a fire safe box were stolen from the church.

“It was a forced entry, and there was extensive damage inside the church,” Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney said on Nov. 18, noting the incident caused about $5,000 in damages to the church building.

The theft and damages occurred sometime between 9 a.m. on Nov. 15 and 9:40 a.m. on Nov. 16.

“The pastor reported the burglary to Alabaster police on Sunday morning before the first service” APD detective Sgt. Grant Humphries wrote in a release. “We located most of the stolen items on Wednesday, which led to his arrest”

Third-degree burglary and second-degree theft of property are both felony charges.

As of Nov. 20, Cox was being held in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $35,000.