A judge ordered a prison sentence Thursday for a man caught burglarizing local churches twice in three years.

Judge Paula Martin ordered Richard J. Bowman to serve a sentence of roughly six years for crimes including a 2002 burglary at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, 6001 W. 15th St., and a September 2005 burglary at St. John’s Catholic Church, 1234 Ky.

Bowman, 42, previously worked for a cleaning company employed by the churches and had access to master keys to the churches.

After Christmas presents for the poor disappeared in 2002 from Corpus Christi, church leaders set up surveillance and caught Bowman on camera inside the church. He entered a plea to burglary and child abuse – a charge from an unrelated case – and Martin sentenced him to three years of probation.

In summer 2005, St. John’s started having large bills disappear from collection bags and other places on the church grounds, the Rev. John Schmeidler said.

“He was wise enough not to take the whole collection, otherwise you would know it had happened,” Schmeidler said. “I just got the sense that someone had been going through things.”

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Schmeidler eventually set up a sting with police, who caught Bowman inside the church the night of Sept. 24.

He entered a plea to burglary last month. On Thursday, Martin revoked his probation on the old case and ordered him to prison on the new case, for a combined sentence of about six years.

Schmeidler said it was difficult to tell exactly how much money was taken during the second round of thefts, but it could have been as much as $1,500.

“It’s obvious he has a problem, which we can’t do much about,” Schmeidler said, reacting to the news that Bowman would go to prison. “He can’t be out because obviously it’s an addiction.”