CARROLLTON -- Intruders hit four churches in Carroll County over the weekend, bringing the total to 16 churches in the area either burglarized or broken into during the past two months.

Carroll County Sheriff's Lt. Shane Taylor said burglaries increase in general during the holiday season, but the church thefts are not usual during the period.

Church burglaries run in cycles over the years, with small, older county churches seen as perhaps easy targets, Taylor added.

Many of break-ins were at small churches isolated in rural areas where they could be struck at night, and intruders usually entered by prying open a back door. In some of the cases, nothing was stolen.

Nine churches reported break-ins or burglaries in November, and so far this month at least seven incidents have been reported. The churches hit most recently were Sandy Flat Baptist Church, Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, Antioch Baptist Church and Providence Baptist Church.