Church theft suspects named

Stephen Bakaitis offers advice to those who struggle, as he says he and his brother do, against poverty and joblessness.

“Don’t revert back to a criminal lifestyle just to make money,” he said. “Stick through it.”

DNA matches have linked Stephen P. Bakaitis, 23, and his brother, Joshua T. Bakaitis, 21, to a string of church break-ins that rattled Waynesboro earlier this year, city police said Wednesday.

After learning of the lab results, police searched Joshua Bakaitis’ Waynesboro apartment and his brother’s tent, turning up items stolen from area churches, according to court documents.

“These are the two lead suspects,” Waynesboro police Sgt. Becky Moran said of the Bakaitis brothers. “Charges are forthcoming.”

No arrests had been made at presstime.

Interviewed at the Arch Avenue apartment where they were staying Wednesday, both brothers described lives of poverty. Neither commented on the break-ins.

“If you knew how many applications I’ve put in, you’d be surprised,” Stephen Bakaitis said. “I don’t hardly have any family to turn to.”

Their story, marred by tragedy, has made its way into news pages before. The Bakaitises’ stepbrother was killed in 2007 when he was burned by a foundry wire while trying to steal copper in Radford, according to The Roanoke Times. Their father was also severely burned in the incident.

Their mother was serving a yearlong jail sentence at the time.

Work was hard to find in Radford, the brothers told The Roanoke Times, spurring a move to Waynesboro, where trouble followed.

City police increased patrols at churches after three break-ins in less than a week in March. Burglars stole cash, cameras, a mirror and a laptop from St. John’s Episcopal Church, Valley Pastoral Counseling and Bethany Lutheran Church.

Church officials double-checked door locks, increased lighting and removed valuable items while detectives worked the case.

Careful crime scene swabbing led to a break last week, when a state forensics lab found DNA matches to the Bakaitis brothers, Moran said.

“You hope for it, but you don’t always get a DNA hit,” Moran said.

She credited Det. K.S. Vance for choosing good spots to collect DNA samples.

“You’re looking at an entire church, basically,” Moran said.

Police got search warrants for each brother to collect fresh DNA and searched their homes — the apartment along with the tent off the South River — where cameras, a mirror with an “Angie” inscription and three pairs of shoes were seized, according to a police search warrant.

The shoes, Moran explained, will be compared to footprint photographs taken from crime scenes.

Police on Tuesday advised Stephen Bakaitis to remove his tent from Invista property near the river, not far from a common camping area. Belongings left at Bakaitis’ site included a Kroger card, detergent bottles, bags of trash, Pall Mall cigarette packs, a half-eaten watermelon and what appeared to be Malaysian currency.

Shortly before his stepbrother’s death, Stephen Bakaitis was arrested for break-ins at three Radford-area businesses. He is partway through a five-year probation sentence after being convicted of grand larceny and breaking and entering. He awaits hearings on recent Waynesboro charges of public intoxication and trapping without a license.