Ex-janitor charged with taking church safe from St. Patrick's

A Wadsworth man was charged with burglary in connection with the theft of a safe from a church.

Lake County sheriff's police said Monday that Jonathan Janda, 27, stole a safe Dec. 29 from St. Patrick's Church on Wadsworth Road in Wadsworth. Police said it contained more than $10,000 in checks and cash.

Police said Janda took the safe to a house in Kenosha and spent more than $600 of its contents. Police said the remaining cash and checks were found in the safe when it was recovered.

Janda is charged with burglary and faces up to 15 years in prison, if convicted. He is due in court Jan. 14.

The Rev. Patrick Cecil, a priest at St. Patrick's, said Janda was a janitor at the church. Cecil said officials were in the process of firing Janda when the theft occurred.