PAULS VALLEY — Nathanael Christian claimed he broke into churches because his "family has always been very religious,” police said.

A pastor at one of the churches said maybe he chose churches because he knows they’re forgiving.

Christian, 21, of Pauls Valley, is charged in Garvin County District Court with four counts of second-degree burglary. He is accused of breaking into four area churches — on at least eight occasions — to use their Internet to access pornography.

In one break-in, $300 in calls to telephone sex services were made. Laptops were stolen in two of the burglaries, police reported.

Pauls Valley police Detective Derrick Jolley said authorities were curious why the burglar targeted churches but never got a full explanation.

"(Christian) just said ‘my family has always been very religious’ with a look on his face that indicated it made sense to him,” Jolley said.

No specific religion was targeted.

The churches burglarized were Trinity Baptist Church, First Assembly of God, St. Catherine Catholic Church and First Church of God. Christian had never attended any of those churches, police said.

The Rev. Gary Underwood, associate pastor at First Church of God, said the burglar may have been sneaking in unnoticed during church outreach meetings in the evenings and staying after the doors were locked.

Underwood said Christian was further implicated in connection with the break-in by a woman who claims Christian was using the church phone to call her during the early morning hours.

"He obviously has an issue with pornography,” Underwood said. "Maybe, he chose churches to break into because he knows we are very forgiving.”

Underwood said he and other church members would be willing to counsel him but feel he should be punished with jail time.

According to a police report, officer Jamie Hillis discovered the link that led police to Christian. She researched the Internet history on one of the computers and found Christian’s pages on MySpace and Facebook.

Christian has been in the Garvin County jail since his arrest on March 10.

Jolley said Christian took responsibility for the burglaries and told police where he hid the two stolen laptops.

Christian had a history of victimizing a church.

In 2008, he was convicted of second-degree burglary and of forging $7,000 in checks stolen from a church in Katie, a Garvin County community. He was given a suspended prison sentence in exchange for participating in Oklahoma’s Regimented Inmate Discipline program, a boot camp-type program operated by the state Corrections Department, according to court records.

Christian has pending identity theft charges against him in Garvin County in a 2009 case, court records indicate.

He also has a history of arrests on complaints of larceny, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, entering a building with unlawful intent and malicious injury to property.