Thieves hit a church in Mount Vernon, stealing money out of the collections box from a poor parish.

According to published reports, someone got into an unlocked room behind the altar on Sunday at the Sacred Heart Church and broke off the padlock on the weekend's collections box. There was approximately $6,000 stolen. Roberta Apuzzo, executive director of Community Service Associates, says earlier in the week, someone broke into the soup kitchen located directly below the church. Apuzzo says the thief got through two locked doors and stole her laptop and two digital cameras.

Apuzzo says Sacred Heart Church is unfortunately one of several churches in the city that were robbed over the last few weeks.