Women allegedly rob senior while praying with her in church

Police in Tennesse are looking for several women who they say robbed a senior in a church sanctuary last week.

CBN reports the incident took place at Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville on Feb. 9 before an evening worship service. In a video posted to the church's YouTube channel, pastor Larry Robertson informs the congregation of what happened.

He says that some women showed up before 6 p.m. saying they thought the service began earlier. The pastor welcomed them into the sanctuary to wait for the beginning of the service. A 78-year-old member of the congregation arrived early and began talking with the women.

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"Long story short, they robbed her. One asked, 'Will you pray with me?' While they had their eyes closed and heads bowed, the other girl got into our church member's purse and we've got it all on video ... got credit cards, cash, everything. Closed it back up and amazingly, that's when the prayer finished."

A security video from the sanctuary shows one suspect kneeling in the aisle and holding the victim's hand while another suspect reaches over the back of the pew and allegedly goes through the victim's purse.

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In the address to the congregation the pastor invites church members to pray for the suspects.

"I want to pray that the Lord will awaken something in these young ladies and realize the error of their ways and ultimately, come to Christ," he says.  "The reality is there's not much the police can do at this point. We want to pray for those individuals, especially Ms. Linda. People know that Christians are kind and trusting and the devil knows it too."

The Clarksville Police Department is investigating. They say while the video shows two women in the sanctuary, there was a total of four women together. Three of them were seen exiting a Sam's Club store after using the victims credit card a short time after the theft, police allege.

CBN reports that Robertson tells a local television station that, ""My prayer is that if I had the opportunity to encounter them again, that I would be faithful to and kind enough to them to share the gospel with them in hopes that they would trust Christ as their Savior."