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Suspect In Long String Of Church Burglaries Arrested On Easter Sunday

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - Police have made an arrest in a string of church burglaries in Englewood and it's possible there's another suspect.

Jordan Peterson Karr, 25, was arrested at 3 p.m. Sunday after police chased him for a while in the 3800 block of South Lincoln Street.

Englewood police had been trying to catch someone for a year and are giving a lot of credit to the community for the arrest. They say several people responded to their crime alert, identifying the man in the pictures they released. He's believed to have broken into more than 19 churches and caused thousands of dollars in damage.

"He broke the glass out of three interior doors," Eldon Pritzel with the Englewood Bible Church said.

Damage done to Englewood Bible Church last month hasn't been easy to repair.

church burglaries map
(credit: CBS)

"Our congregation is small and we're having difficulty meeting our budget, our needs," Pritzel said. "He tried to get into the safe … it has to be replaced."

After nearly 10 months on the run, Englewood police finally tracked down Karr. Officers spotted him Sunday in an alley near South Lincoln Street not far from Jay Gould's home.

"My dog started barking out the window and we looked out and there was about six cop cars," Gould said.

Jordan Peterson Karr
Jordan Peterson Karr (credit: Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office)

Police say Karr took off running, jumping fences in the neighborhood before officers cornered him in a yard.

"Had a guy in cuffs, probably about my height, shaved head ... and put him in the back of a trooper car," Gould said.

Some say it's only fitting that he was arrested on Easter Sunday.

"Appropriate, I think," Gould said.

"It's reassuring that a person has been apprehended," Pritzel said.

There may be a second suspect involved but police are still investigating.

Karr is being held at the Arapahoe County Jail for an active felony warrant for prior burglary charges. He's expected to be charged with more burglary and theft charges later this week.

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