GROVE CITY, Pa. - A teen was sentenced Thursday for breaking into two Mercer County churches. 

19-year-old Zion Scriven of Slippery Rock, who pleaded guilty earlier to two counts of burglary, was sentenced to serve between 9 to 23 months behind bars.

Grove City Police say Scriven broke into Tower Presbyterian Church last December and also broke into Galilean Baptist Church in February.

Scriven entered Tower Presbyterian through an unlocked door and damaged around $1,400 of property, according to police.

A criminal complaint says the thief left with only a $25 Walmart gift card and $8.00 in cash.

Meanwhile, Galilean's pastor was in the building at the time of the February incident, and police say he became aware that something was amiss when the church's power was suddenly cut off.

The pastor, according to police, got up to investigate and found several drawers forcibly opened and the church's safe broken into.  

Nothing of value was reported missing.

When he returned to his office, police say the pastor found a note on his computer titled "A letter from the thief."  It read, "I was going to kill you, but I decided to shut off the power instead.  Take care pastor."  The letter was signed with a smiley face.

As it turned out, the note may have been the alleged thief's undoing.  Police searched the scene and recovered Scriven's fingerprint from the notepad used to create the smiley-signed note, which led to his arrest on June 15.