Sandy McGriff, pastor of Church of the Living God in Dallas, got caught apparently trying to pull a reverse Santa Claus—hauling away $10,000 in computers and furs—on a member of her flock on the day before Christmas.
McGriff was apprehended by police at about 5:30 p.m. at the home of one the members of her church after a neighbor reported a robbery. Officers saw McGriff walking out of the house’s back door carrying two fur coats; they found a laptop and several purses in her Jaguar parked outside.
The victim, according to the Dallas Morning News, was ambivalent the whole thing:
On Saturday, the woman whose home was burglarized said she had mixed feelings about the incident because McGriff was her pastor. Agnew had known McGriff and her husband for about 10 years before joining their church.
“She really seemed to be this woman who had a connection with God,” she said. “I still really can’t believe it.”
But the Lord works in mysterious ways! According this kind of amazing video interview with McGriff shot by the Dallas Morning News, the whole thing was a misunderstanding: McGriff was in the neighborhood to pick up a pie someone baked her, got an inexplicable urge to drive by the victim’s house, saw two strange men leaving it, and broke in to safeguard her parishioners’ valuables lest the robbers return.
