A heartless con artist accused of stealing a gold-plated rose from a 9/11 memorial at a Midtown Catholic church was arrested Friday for the unholy crime, New York City police said.
Daiker Alcantara, 21, was handed over to police by his father on Wednesday after he allegedly stole a $3,000 gold-plated rose forged from Ground Zero metal from the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. , was charged with grand theft. This was revealed by the police and officials.
A memorial in the chapel on West 31st Street honors all the lives lost in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, especially the Rev. Michal Judge, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi and FDNY chaplain. It's a thing.
“As far as I'm concerned, this is not just robbery, it's blasphemy,” current pastor Brian Jordan told the Post on Wednesday.
Police sources said that despite Alkanatara's arrest, the gold-plated rose has not yet been returned to the church and its fate remains unknown.
Before Arcanatara's arrest, the pastor said the suspected thief was known to people around the parish.
“We met him many times. He was a loner, a lone wolf kind of guy,” the pastor said. “If he needed help, I would help him…He avoided any kind of contact.”
Jordan also said he didn't want the thief to be “wandering around in the cell.”
