Staff Report

Samantha Lee Burleson

MENTONE —  Two people were arrested for allegedly breaking into the Palestine Bible Church in Mentone.

Samantha Lee Burleson, 24, 8955 W. 125N, Etna Green; and Lucas Levi Graham, 22, 32 EMS W23C Lane, North Webster, are each charged with burglary, a level 5 felony; and criminal trespass, a class A misdemeanor.

On Dec. 8, 2023, Mentone, Claypool, and Kosciusko County Sheriff’s officers responded to a burglary in progress at the Palestine Bible Church in Mentone.

According to court documents, a man witnessed Burleson and Graham forcibly enter the church through a back door. Immediately upon encountering law enforcement, the two said they didn’t know what they did was wrong since the church’s back door was open. Burleson and Graham said they went into the church to use the bathroom and claimed they didn’t know the church was private property.

Burleson also said Palestine Bible Church was her family’s church and that her family attend the church.

The church’s pastor arrived at the scene and said there was no running water in the building. He also said he did not know Burleson. The church’s key holders noticed a storage tub had been removed from a shelving unit and appeared to have been looked through. They also confirmed the church’s doors were kept locked due to past break-ins.

Burleson was previously convicted of counterfeiting, making a false sales document, theft, and failure to return to lawful detention in Kosciusko County. At the time of this incident, she had two warrants for her arrest for failing to appear in two methamphetamine possession cases.

Burleson and Graham both have already been arrested and released on their own recognizance. They have initial hearings at 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, in Kosciusko Superior Court Two.

A photo of Graham was unavailable for publication.