MANHATTAN, N.Y. — Police have arrested a Bronx man in connection with the theft of a gold-plated metal rose from the Church of St. Francis of Assisi’s 9/11 Memorial in Midtown earlier this week.
The theft occurred on Wednesday, November 20, at approximately 2:30 p.m., when an unidentified individual entered the church at 135 West 31st Street and removed the symbolic rose without permission, authorities said. The rose is part of a memorial inside the church honoring the victims of the September 11 attacks.
The NYPD arrested Deikel Alcantara, 21, of 3535 Dekalb Avenue in the Bronx, on Friday evening at 8 p.m. within the confines of the 14th Precinct. Officials charged Alcantara with grand larceny in the third degree in connection to the incident.
The investigation into the theft was supported by media footage released earlier in the week, though police have not disclosed further details regarding the recovery of the stolen rose.