Crowbar break-in trashes Grace Community student center; youth-group PS5 stolen

Around 1:45 a.m. August 21, a man forced entry into the student center at Grace Community Church, 1200 E. Southern Avenue (near Southern Avenue and Rural Road), with a crowbar or tire iron. Damage was about $10,000 — a computer, instruments, TVs/screens, sound equipment, walls, doors, and a waterline that flooded the kitchen. Electronics stolen included a PlayStation 5 used by the youth group (about $2,000 in electronics per AZFamily/KOLD). Erick Encinas, 23, of Mesa was arrested September 1 and booked for burglary and aggravated criminal damage.

He allegedly told a passerby he had come from assaulting a pastor; primary coverage did not list a separate assault charge.