Serial church burglar caught yet again while on parole

After serving only four years for multiple burglaries in 2010, an area man has again been arrested for breaking in and stealing from area religious organizations. The burglar was out on parole for his last church robbery.

John B. Bejan, of Shawnee, Kan., was charged this week in Johnson County District Court with aggravated burglary and theft of property of St. Rose Catholic Church in Westwood just off the Kansas City Plaza.

He was booked into the Johnson County Detention Center Tuesday and bond is set at $10,000.

Bejan, 59, has a long history of church and religious school break-ins. According to court records, he is currently on probation in another burglary case. In January, Bejan pleaded guilty to the attempted aggravated burglary of the Good Shepherd Parish school in Shawnee and theft. That resulted in two years of probation.

In 2010, Bejan was charged with three burglaries of the Lenexa Baptist Church and burglarizing St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park. He was also charged with the theft of computer equipment, musical instruments, and additional items.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary in the 2010 case and was sentenced to four years and seven months in prison.

There have been a string of church burglaries, with many going unsolved, across Kansas City in the last year. In one instance, thieves broke through an almost 100-year-old stained glass window to take computer equipment from a historic church.

It is not known if Bejan is the burglar connected with any of the other crimes.