Nearly a year after a burglary saw Chaska's oldest church lose more than 100 years of irreplaceable handwritten records, there's been a breakthrough in the case.

A St. Louis Park man was charged this week with second-degree burglary in the theft of a locked safe from Chaska Moravian Church last July. The safe contained petty cash and leather-bound volumes with church history, including births, deaths, marriages and baptisms.

Tolbert James McKenzie, 26, is scheduled to appear in Carver County District Court on June 26.

According to court documents, Chaska police identified McKenzie as a suspect through DNA on a cigarette butt and a piece of rubber glove found in the church office from which the safe was stolen. McKenzie's DNA was registered in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's database because of previous convictions for first-degree burglary, theft and second-degree drug possession.

Court documents say that when police questioned McKenzie about the church burglary, he admitted breaking into the church and taking the safe with the help of another person.

There's still no news of the safe or its contents, but the Rev. Michael Eder remains hopeful.

"I told my congregation in my first sermon of the year that 2014 was the year we got broken into, and 2015 would be the year we got our records back. I've kind of put myself on the line prophetically, but I've got about six months left," Eder said.

Chaska police detective Sgt. Rachel Nelson said that the case is still active and that a $1,000 reward still is being offered by an anonymous donor for information leading to the records' safe return.

"We believe there's a second suspect," Nelson said.

Eder said the safe was bulky and heavy, probably requiring more than one person to remove it.

After the safe was stolen, Eder took the unusual step of posting the combination on the church's Facebook page, hoping the thieves would take the money and enable someone to discover and return the record books.

Church records starting at 1858 are at the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, Pa. The missing volumes had records starting about 1900.

"This gets us a little bit closer, but we're not home by any means," Eder said. "At least it's some movement in the case."

Susan Feyder • 612-673-1723