EUGENE, Ore. - A south Eugene church found out the hard way Wednesday night that nothing is sacred when you're a thief.
Imagine you're from an out-of-state church choir, in to Eugene to perform a concert. While you're performing upstairs in the sanctuary, a thief breaks in to the church and rifles through your purses to get your cash.
That's what happened at Cascade Presbyterian Church.
As the California Baptist University choir delivered songs of inspiration, there were sour notes downstairs.
"Their wallets had been broken into; someone had gotten into all the rooms and taken $1,900 of cash," said Cascade's music director Davina Perret.
Perret explained only the front door of the church was open and all other outside doors were locked.
They decided to store the choir members purses in the Sunday school rooms. "But we didn't lock the doors downstairs. Didn't even think we needed to lock doors, we're at a church," said Perret.
"Eugene police would really like to find out who has done this and bring them to justice," said Melinda McLaughlin with the Eugene Police Department.
Despite the disappointment, the choir from California Baptist is ready to keep on singing.
Contributions from Cascade members and another church made up some of the loss.
Choir director Phillip Miller told KVAL News, "We're not going to let this affect what we're doing as we go. We'll still be effective in our ministry."
Davina Perret also had a message for the thief or thieves, "Oh my goodness, please return the money."