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Couple on first date charged with burglary after breaking into church to play piano

22 August 2022, 11:55

Danielle Salvato and Sebastian Spencer were caught on church CCTV walking into the unlocked church to play it’s piano (not pictured). Picture: Hendersonville Police Department / Indian Lake Peninsula Church / Getty

By Sophia Alexandra Hall

A Tennessean couple ‘goofing around’ on a first date ended up going to jail after walking into an unlocked church to play its piano...

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Danielle Salvato, 19, and Sebastian Spencer, 20 met on a dating app, and bonded over the fact they both played the piano.

Meeting in Tennessee for their first date, the new couple decided they would seek out a piano and play for each other to mark an end to their evening together.

The young lovers drove to a local church at 12:50am in Salvato’s orange mustang, where they thought there’d be a piano, and to both of their surprise, found the door to the Indian Lake Peninsula Church unlocked.

CCTV captures the surprise on Spencer’s face to finding the door unlocked, and Salvato later admits, “I found a piano. I'm so shocked we found one at the first church.

“There were so many more churches I was ready to go to.”

The couple reportedly played the piano for 30 minutes, before leaving the Hendersonville church. On their way out, they took four bibles, drumsticks, and a collection plate, perhaps to create some kind of makeshift drum-kit.

Couple steals from church in Hendersonville

The following morning, the Indian Lake Peninsula Church noted there had been a break-in, and called the Hendersonville Police.

Salvato was identified from their orange mustang, captured on CCTV in the church’s parking lot, along with Spencer, and the pair were arrested soon after.

The church pastor told Nashville news station, WKRN 2, “I feel for them, I pray for them, but also know that we have to protect the property that God has blessed us with.”

The young lovers confessed to playing the piano and surrendered the stolen items. They told police that they knew it was a ‘mistake’ and a ‘dumb’ thing to do’.

Despite police saying the couple were “just goofing around”, Salvato and Spencer were taken to jail, and are being charged with serious crimes, including felony burglary.

Church officials have since reported that the door, which the young Tennesseans snuck through, has since been repaired.