German robs church boxes of 250,000 euros in 9 years

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German woman has confessed to stealing 250,000 euros ($356,400) from church collection boxes over the past nine years, police said on Thursday.

The 57-year-old thief was discovered by a parish priest who called the police after seeing her and a male companion poking about a collection box, a spokesman for police in the southern town of Offenburg said.

The woman subsequently admitted that for the past nine years she had pilfered money from collection boxes two or three times each week, netting 150 to 250 euros each outing.

She had robbed about 12,000 boxes in all, sometimes using a special device to get in to them without breaking the lock.

She also confessed to pinching crucifixes and paintings.