Rev. Pat Close Helps Nab Church Copper-Theft Suspects

The moral of the story is "don't mess with the priest."

The Rev. Pat Close of Grace Episcopal Church doesn't have that saying etched in stone, but it may as well have been for two Camden men whom Haddonfield Police have charged with stealing copper downspouts and air-conditioner tubing from the Kings Highway church.

"I noticed these two guys walking around in the church parking lot Monday morning and went out to ask them what they were doing," Close said Thursday. "They gave me some story, but after 30 years as a priest you can read people. I knew something wasn't quite right."

He didn't notice the gutters missing until later that night when it was raining and he heard the water running off of the roof onto the ground.

On Tuesday, the Haddonfield Police Department arrested and charged two Camden men for the theft.

Cpl. Stu Holloway, an officer who this year has revived an infant, helped save a flock of baby ducklings and helped coach the Haddonfield high school football team, took the initial report and helped make the arrest. Holloway took a description of the suspect and matched it to two suspects collared for allegedly trying to skip a PATCO Hi-Speedline fare in Camden.

Anthony Marchione Jr. and Patrick Duross-Malloy were both charged with theft and criminal mischief after being questioned, police said. Marchione, 34, was processed and housed in the Camden County Correctional Facility in lieu of posting $1,000 full cash bail. Patrick Duross-Malloy, 27, was processed and housed in the Gloucester County Correctional Facility on unrelated charges.

Both men were listed as "homeless."

Update, Oct. 12, 6 a.m.: For more on this story, read .