Police: Couple Scrapped Bronze Doors Stolen From Church

A couple is accused of selling bronze doors for scrap after they were stolen from a church in Hopedale, Massachusetts.

"One day, I was going into the church, looked over here and the doors were gone," said Father William Konicki.

Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Hopedale recently replaced its aging six large bronze doors leading into its chapel. Konicki said contractors placed the heavy doors here in July, behind the parish house garage, out of sight from the road.

The church said the doors were estimated at $3,000 a piece for scrap metal, and even more since the church planned to have them architecturally salvaged.

"We knew the value of the doors would pay for the new set of doors," Konicki said.

So when they went missing, the first place Hopedale police looked for them was local scrap metal shops. Four of the six stolen doors were found at Sims Metal Management in Worcester.

Police say surveillance video and receipts showed 39-year-old Christina Trifiro and her boyfriend 46-year-old Dean Murphy scrapping the doors four separate times there over the past month.

The couple has been arraigned on larceny charges, but didn't have much to say to NBC Boston leaving court Wednesday.

"I have no idea, I didn't take them." Trifiro said.

When pressed that her name was on the receipt, Trifiro said, "at a junkyard."

"So you do admit that you sold those doors to the junkyard?" she was asked.

"I don't admit anything," she replied.

Murphy was asked if he stole from the church.

"I had nothing to do with it, nope," he said.

"I can't believe it, I just can't believe all this," said Trifiro's mother, Dorothy Trifiro.

She says the couple lives with her in her nearby Milford home.

"No doors came to my home, I can tell you that much, other than that I don't know, she doesn't tell me very much," said Dorothy Trifiro. "I'm just sorry it all happened."

A judge also issued a warrant for a third suspect, 35-year-old Richard Parker, who lives right up the street from the church in Hopedale.

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