Police say a man asked a church for help, and then later he robbed them. Two days later, he came back and asked for help again

Denise Dillon of FOX 5 Atlanta says police in Marietta are calling it a bold – and unsettling – case of someone allegedly abusing a church’s generosity, then returning like nothing happened.

According to Dillon’s report, Quintavious Jones, 25, first showed up at St. Joseph Catholic Church asking for financial help with a hotel room. Church leaders helped him.

Then, police say, he came back and tried to steal from them.

And when that didn’t work out the way he wanted, investigators say he returned again – two days later – asking for help a second time, like the earlier incident was just a misunderstanding or didn’t count.

That final return, Dillon reports, is the moment the church stopped trying to handle things quietly and called police.

A Request For Help Turns Into A Crime Report

Dillon says this started in mid-February, when police say Jones approached the church looking for assistance paying for a hotel stay.

That’s not unusual, and it’s not even controversial in many communities. Churches help people down on their luck all the time – sometimes through formal programs, sometimes through small decisions made on the spot.

The shock comes from what police say happened next.

About a week later, investigators say Jones returned to St. Joseph Catholic Church and was caught on surveillance video walking around inside. Dillon reports that police say he then tried to pry open an offering box using scissors.

Officer Denise Lozado, speaking in Dillon’s story, said the suspect didn’t actually get into the box – but the box was still heavily damaged. Lozado said you can “definitely see” he appeared to be trying to get money people had put inside.

That detail matters because an offering box isn’t just another container. In a church setting, it’s a symbol and a trust point. People put money there believing it’s for ministry, bills, outreach, and keeping the doors open – not for someone to come back with tools and treat it like a vending machine.

The Offering Box And The Line That Got Crossed

Dillon’s report makes it pretty clear why church leaders took this personally, beyond the obvious legal issues.

Lozado told FOX 5 the church wanted to press charges because the offering box is important to the church and to the people who attend. That’s a practical statement, but it also hints at the emotional part: this wasn’t just property damage – it was a violation of a place built on goodwill.

And it’s the kind of incident that leaves a stain even after the repairs are done.

If you’ve ever donated to a church, you know the routine. You put money in and you don’t think twice, because you’re not supposed to have to. But cases like this make people hesitate, and that’s a bigger loss than whatever was inside the box at the time.

Even when nothing is successfully stolen, the damage is still real – broken equipment, tighter security, people wondering if they can relax in a sanctuary that suddenly feels less protected than they thought.

“Two Days Later,” Police Say He Came Back Again

Here’s the part that makes the story feel almost surreal.

Dillon reports police say Jones showed up two days later – described as a third visit – asking for money again to pay for his hotel room.

It’s hard not to read that as either desperation, audacity, or both. Most people who do something wrong don’t circle back to the scene and ask for another favor.

But Dillon says that’s exactly what happened, and this time church officials called police.

The church’s response also sends a message to other organizations that try to be generous: help can’t come with blind trust forever, especially if someone shows signs they’re willing to exploit it.

Police say Jones was arrested and now faces burglary and criminal damage to property charges.

Neighbors React: “Repaying Kindness With Wickedness”

Dillon also spoke with people in the area who said they were stunned that someone would try to burglarize a church – especially one that had allegedly helped him days earlier.

One local resident, Tan Nguyen, told FOX 5 it was “very uncalled for,” and described it as repaying kindness with “wickedness.” The emotion in that kind of reaction is easy to understand. A church is one of the few places where people still expect grace to mean something.

Another neighbor, Joticia Sarver, told Dillon she thought it was sad, adding that he was getting help and then burglarized them, and said she would “pray for him.”

Those two comments sit side-by-side in a way that feels pretty accurate to real life: anger at the act, but also a kind of sorrow that someone would burn a bridge that didn’t need to be burned.

Why Police Say Reporting Quickly Matters

Dillon ends the report with a point police want the public to hear: report crimes as soon as possible.

In this case, police say the church calling when the man returned again helped them catch him. The earlier surveillance also mattered because it gave investigators something concrete instead of rumors or assumptions.

There’s also a broader lesson here for any place that serves the public—churches, nonprofits, and community centers especially.

Being compassionate doesn’t mean being careless, and it doesn’t mean you can’t protect your people, your property, or your donors. If anything, protecting those things is part of staying able to help the next person who comes through the door with a real need and honest intent.

And the part that lingers in Dillon’s reporting is the simplest one: police say this wasn’t a stranger targeting a random building. This was someone who had already been helped, then allegedly came back to take more, by force, and then came back again asking for help as if nothing had happened.