KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An accused church bell thief cut the historic bell into pieces and may have planned to sell those pieces, according to the Cass County Sheriff's Department.
Christopher Longacre, 36, is charged in Cass County Court with felony theft, possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor resisting arrest, according to a sheriff's department news release.
The bell was reported stolen Sept. 11 from the Gunn City Christian Church, which is more than 140 years old.
A fire destroyed the log cabin church in the 1920's, but the bell survived.
Investigators got information the next day Longacre stole the bell and it was at his house in Garden City, Missouri, according to the news release.
Longacre managed to avoid capture and the bell was not found.
Cass County deputies pulled Longacre's vehicle over Wednesday and found pieces of the bell in the vehicle, the news release states.
Longacre is in the Cass County Jail. His bond was set at $25,000, cash-only.
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