Churchgoers are being warned to keep an eye on their valuables after a recent rare spate of thefts during Sunday and funeral services in at least eight Honolulu churches.

Police say the cases are likely linked, because the crimes are so similar.

In several cases, parishioners found their bags missing after returning to their pews from taking communion. In other instances, purses went missing from classrooms or common rooms just before or during services.

And police said the crimes don't stop there: Some of those whose purses were stolen became victims of identify theft. And in at least one case, a woman changed the locks to her home because she saw someone staking it out.

Church administrators and police say it is rare — almost unheard of — to see even one theft during a church service.

More common, though still rare, are break-ins at churches and parochial schools, said District 7 burglary and theft detective Steve Forman, who is investigating the church incidents.

"I have never encountered cases where somebody is actually attending a church service or a church funeral and stealing from people," Forman said. "Church burglaries that happen in the course of the night are very few. But as far as thefts occurring in the service, those are completely rare."

He added, "Most criminals will stay away from churches. It's sort of taboo."

The thefts Forman is investigating happened from early February to late March, though he is still trying to determine whether other churches were hit later on. Five of the thefts were at urban Honolulu churches, including St. Pius in Manoa and Makiki Christian Church. Three others occurred at East Honolulu churches, from Hawai'i Kai to Kahala.

In addition to the thefts of purses, which totaled thousands of dollars in cash and material items, Forman is investigating related cases of identify theft and credit-card fraud.

He declined to discuss whether he had a suspect, but officials at several churches that have been hit said the items were stolen by a woman in her 20s. In some cases, she was accompanied by a man, whom she identified as her boyfriend.

LETTING GUARD DOWN

Bill Burton, business manager of the Catholic diocese, said that before the rash of thefts he had only heard of one theft during a church service in the Islands — and that was 10 to 15 years ago at St. Augustine Church in Waikiki when a woman's purse was snatched while she took communion.

Burton said such crimes chip away at the envelope of safety that churchgoers should feel when they attend services. Many people, he said, let their guard down when they walk into their church. They sit in the same spot every week and never think that the precautions they take daily need to be heeded while they worship.

CHATTY STRANGER

One of the first churches to fall victim in the spate of thefts was New Hope Hawai'i Kai.

Rick Botelho, church administrator of the 500-member congregation that meets at Kaiser High School, said it was the first theft at the church in its four years of existence.

The theft took place just before the first services started one Sunday in February, when people were greeting each other. Botelho said a woman in her 20s whom no one recognized was talking to people in the "hospitality room," which is housed in a classroom. The room is where churchgoers leave their purses and valuables, and where people come to chat. At some point, the woman was left alone.

That's when at least one purse and possibly other items were taken, he said.

It didn't take long for someone to notice the items were missing. But by that time, the woman was gone.

"We've gotten a little bit wiser because of it," Botelho said.

COMMUNION CRIME

Forman said the theft at Central Union Church happened in March when an elderly woman's purse was swiped while she took communion.

The elderly woman told police a young woman, who appeared talkative and friendly, was sitting next to her when she went up to the front of the church.

When she got back, her purse — and the young woman — were gone.

One of the more flagrant crimes happened in March at Makiki Christian Church when a young woman and man showed up at a funeral and posed as flower delivery people when they walked into a classroom at the church and stole a purse, Forman said.

In that case, the purse belonged to a preschool teacher, not a parishioner.

St. Pius X Church on Lowrey Avenue was hit twice, once during services for the Korean congregation in late February and a second time during a funeral in early March.

In the case of the funeral, the woman walked up to an unattended purse and told a church employee she needed to get a feminine hygiene product out of her "auntie's" purse. The employee told her to wait for the purse's owner to return, but she said she needed it badly and asked where the bathrooms were. She then took the bag and walked away.

But because churchgoers were already on edge in the wake of the earlier theft, employees watched her and stopped her when she tried to flee. The missing purse was never found, but the woman was arrested. She was quickly released, however.

"She understands that there's a communion service," said Carmella Marcos-Yago, of St. Pius. "She waits for it, that's when she strikes."

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.