Huntington Church Has Strong Message For Oil Tank Thief

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The pastor of a Long Island church has some harsh words for the thief that made off with their brand new oil tank.

Rev. Stephanie Green changed the sign in front of the Joshua Baptist Church in Huntington to read, "to whomever stole our oil tank u r going to hell."

But the sign has since been changed following a complaint from a church member.

"One of the members was a little angry about it," Green told 1010 WINS. "Our sign now says, 'To whomever stole our oil tank, may you burn.' We have no authority and no power to put anybody in hell."

Despite the language, the message is the same.

"We want to alert the community that there's a thief on the loose," Green said.

As CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported, Green felt the cold inside of her church. After an unsuccessful attempt to turn on the heat she found that it had been stolen. 

"This piece right here is the oil line, and it's capped," she said.

"I thought I was dreaming," she told WCBS 880's Sophia Hall.

The thief it seemed, knew what he was doing.

"Who can just take a 275 gallon tank and just carry it up the street. It had oil in it. Had to be planned. Someone had to have been watching our church," she said.

The church got the oil tank six months ago after the old one was destroyed in a flood.

Green said the church had to pay for the tank out of pocket because it wasn't covered by insurance.

"We hadn't finished paying it off and it's gone now," Green said. "We need to purchase a brand new one because we can't even do baptisms because we don't have hot water because we don't have the oil tank."

"We'd like it back or to be able to get a new one," she added.

The church can no longer be heated, nor can baptisms be performed. The new heating system has been rendered useless.

Congregants said they hope the thief has a conscience.

"What kind of person are you that you can rest your head at night?" Deidre Leary said.

Suffolk County police said they are investigating. They may be able to identify the tank by a serial number printed on the side.

Anyone with information has been asked to contact Suffolk Police or the Joshua Baptist Cathedral in Huntington.