A member of the Church of Pentecost who claimed to be a deacon, Matthew Frimpong has been put behind bars for stealing the church’s instruments belonging to the Russia Worship Centre (RWC) in the Dansoman Area of the church.
Speaking with the night security guard on duty on the day of the incident, he said he had left his post briefly to visit the washroom when the items were stolen. He said he was surprised how the suspect managed to make away with the items out of the three thousand sitting capacity auditorium as he had ensured that every door was locked except one, which he sat in front to guard the facility.
Upon returning to his post, he said he realized that the door he left unlocked had been left ajar prompting him that an intruder had made his way into the chapel.
The worried private security man indicated that he inspected the chapel and found out that a 49 inches monitor used for displays during church services had been stolen but not noticing immediately that the instruments had also been taken away. It took one of the church’s instrumentalists who frequents the church premises in the evenings and to make sure the instruments were safe to see that the keyboard and the guitar with its cords had been stolen.
According to the Presiding elder of RWC, Elder Odame Amoah, Matthew was based in the church when he came to the city to find a job due to financial difficulties. He said few months into his stay, he lodged a complaint that his tablet and an amount of Eight Hundred Ghana cedis had been stolen from his bag which another elder, Clement Addo had instructed one of the members who slept in the chapel to keep from the view of the congregation.
“He cooked the story to gain sympathy from the church. It was never true because we called the person whom he claimed sent him the money but he denied he sending him money,” the presiding elder said.
Mr. Odame said they nearly caused the arrest of the member who took Matthew’s bag at the instruction of Elder Clement if not for the intervention of another elder who asked for further investigation into the issue.
His arrest
After weeks the announcement of the incident threw the congregation into dismay, Mr. Odame indicated that the resident minister of RWC, Pastor Frank Owusu-Amoah had a call from an anonymous person from Kumasi informing him that the missing items were in the Ashanti regional capital. He said the pastor quickly mobilized some of the members including an instrumentalist to identify the items, which were in the possession of Matthew. Mr. Odame said the Ashanti Regional police command was informed about the issue and Matthew was arrested. He said Matthew had already sold one of the television set to a friend at a cost of Six Hundred Ghana cedis but it was retrieved.
The presiding elder indicated that Matthew has been transferred to the Dansoman District Police for interrogation and further prosecution.
By Rudolph Nandi
