CORTLANDVILLE -- A Tompkins County man is under arrest after police say he stole from and vandalized a local church.
According to the Cortland County Sheriff’s Department, a burglary took place at the Ukrainian Church on McLean Road in Cortlandville on April 17. Investigator Todd Caufield says that the church reported the theft of a purse containing credit cards, a checkbook, and other items. He also says that the inside of the church was damaged.
Police say that they developed a lead in the case when some of the stolen checks were cashed at a bank in Cortland. The suspect, identified as 21-year-old James R. Kastenhauer of Porter Hill Road in Enfield, was located a few days later in the Schuyler County Jail on unrelated charges. Investigator Caufield went to the jail to interview Kastenhauer, and then drew up charges of felony burglary, criminal mischief, grand larceny, and criminal possession of a forged instrument.
After Kastenhauer was released from the Schuyler County Jail, police say he was re-arrested and arraigned in Cortlandville Town Court. He is currently in the Cortland County Jail on $1,500 cash bail or $3,000 bond, and is due back in court on Wednesday.
