ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Thieves put one of Albuquerque’s largest trunk-or-treat events in jeopardy this weekend. They struck just hours before a huge event for the community at Legacy Church.

“Yes, things were stolen here,” said Legacy Church Children’s Pastor Evalani Stockton-Nieto. “Physical things, candy, tents, things that we needed to make this event happen, but the enemy could not steal what God’s hand was over.”

If you were one of the families attending, you probably didn’t notice their facility was broken into and robbed just hours before the event.

“We got a call about 7 a.m. that the window had been shattered, broken into, and also our gates, locks had been cut open, and things had been stolen,” Pastor Stockton-Nieto said.

Pastor Stockton-Nieto called it the “candy trail crime,” saying the thief or thieves left a path of candy and wrappers throughout the building and parking lot. She believes more than one person broke into the building, stealing $6,000 worth of generators, candy, tents, costumes, and more.

“The thing about stealing stuff is that the things that they stole from us are big items, you know, they’re not little things,” she said. “So it’s gonna be really suspicious if someone’s trying to sell the set items, or all of a sudden, somebody comes into a place with all these things, or you see something going on.”

The church is working with Albuquerque police to solve the case.

“The police did everything that they could – they did fingerprints, they covered all of the things that they needed to, they brought in the CSI unit, they brought in the canines, which we really appreciate, because we knew that we’re going to come in here and we wanted to be safe,” the pastor said.

The church is looking forward to any leads or updates from APD.