FORT PIERCE — Police arrested a 45-year-old man accused of burglarizing a church in late September, according to a recently released arrest affidavit.

Eric L. Teal, of the 600 block of South Sixth Street, faces charges including burglary, petit theft and giving a false name to a law enforcement officer.

Teal’s arrest Friday came less than a month after an employee at the First United Methodist Church of Fort Pierce in the 600 block of Orange Avenue told police he noticed a DVD/VHS player and a DVD player missing.

The employee looked at surveillance video and found a man entered the church through a rear door. The man went to a room and eventually left with a dark bag.

A bulletin was issued Oct. 14 that included still photos of the suspect from the video.

Nine days later, an officer on Avenue C spotted a man matching the burglar’s description.

The man identified himself as Ross E. Carter, 41, though investigators said they learned Teal was his real name.

Shown still photos from the surveillance video, Teal said, “Yeah that is me but I don’t know from where.”

Teal denied ever being in the church or taking anything from it.

Tags: arrest, burglary, church, dvd, petit theft, video surveillance

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Crime, Fort Pierce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.