Two Sifrei Torah worth an estimated $100,000 and some Sedurim were damaged during a burglary at Eugene’s only Orthodox Shul Thursday night.

Police alerted to the burglary by watchful neighbors arrested two men and cited a third around 10:30 p.m. at the Ahavas Torah Synagogue, 3800 Ferry St. Police said all three men were transients.

James Nichols McMurry, 51, and Robert William Thraen, 31, were being held Friday in the Lane County Jail on burglary and criminal mischief charges. Thraen also was charged with criminal trespassing.

A third man, 52, was cited for trespassing. He was not with the other two men, and he told officers he had permission to be on the property.

Neighbors called police after noticing a broken window and people moving around inside the synagogue. Officers found the building ransacked, police said.

The Aron Kodesh containing the Sifrei Torah had been pulled off a pedestal and pried open, Paul Feinstein, president of the synagogue’s board, said Friday. The Sifrei Torah themselves were torn and damaged, as were Sedurim and other items, he said.

Computers and other valuables were left untouched, he said.

Feinstein said police told him the men probably were looking for a place to party when they first entered the building on the isolated, dead-end block of Ferry Street.

“What turned into a break-in at a building became a hate crime when they went out of their way to attack the Torah scrolls and the prayer books,” Feinstein said. “If it wasn’t a premeditated hate crime, it certainly turned into one.”

Although concerned about the disrespect and damage to religious materials, police hesitated to label the burglary as a bias crime as defined by Oregon law. That decision will be made by the Lane County district attorney’s office, police spokeswoman Kerry Delf said.

The synagogue has never been targeted before, Feinstein said. Eugene has a small Orthodox community, and about 10 to 15 families attend services at Ahavas Torah.

TRG