Admitted Church Burglar Receives Mercy Sentencing

VAN NUYS — A man who, moved by the Easter season, confessed last year to a series of church burglaries got a little good will back on Friday.

Henry Nolkemper, 35, faced 129 years to life in prison on five burglary counts because his admitted crimes were third strikes. Prosecutors dismissed four of the burglaries and other allegations, shaving a whopping 104 years off his sentence.

Superior Court Judge Michael Harwin sentenced Nolkemper to 25 years to life in prison Friday.

“I think that 25 to life is enough time, especially since his crimes were nonviolent,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Size said. “Had he had an attorney, I’m sure he could have negotiated that disposition.”

A public defender was on hand to represent Nolkemper at his first court appearance, an arraignment, but he fired the lawyer and insisted on pleading guilty to the charges on the spot.

“He would have had to reach 137 before he was eligible for parole, and I didn’t think that would occur,” deadpanned Ron Levine, a lawyer with the Alternate Public Defender’s Office who has been representing Nolkemper. “The life expectancy of Homo sapiens continues to increase, but it hasn’t come that far.”

Now, he said, Nolkemper will be eligible for parole when he’s 55 years old.

Nolkemper, who reportedly has a tattoo of a demon on his chest and a cross on his pelvis, walked into the Hollywood LAPD station on April 14, 1998 and told detectives he had burgled 50 to 100 churches, mostly in North Hollywood and Burbank.

According to court records, Nolkemper said that because he believed it wrong for churches to amass wealth, he believed he was justified in stealing from them.

Detectives with LAPD’s North Hollywood Division found reports on five churches Nolkemper admitted burglarizing, providing ample detail of how he got in and what, if anything, he took.

Levine said three psychiatrists examined his client and determined that Nolkemper suffered from a mental disorder, but he was well enough to know what he was doing when he entered his plea.

Size said he will recommend to detectives in other jurisdictions not file charges against the defendant in the other cases, which to date number less than 20.