QUEENS, N.Y. — A Queens man has been arraigned on charges of grand larceny and burglary for allegedly stealing a safe containing a Torah scroll from a yeshiva in Far Rockaway in May, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced.
The defendant, Saul Colon, 37, of Parsons Boulevard in Flushing, is accused of breaking into the Siach Yitzchok school at 1045 Beach 9th Street alongside an accomplice. The pair allegedly stole a locked safe containing the sacred Torah scroll, which holds immense religious significance and is considered irreplaceable by the Jewish community.
District Attorney Katz emphasized the seriousness of the crime, stating, “This defendant and an accomplice allegedly broke into a religious school and showed profound disrespect for the Jewish community by stealing a sacred Torah scroll. For the yeshiva, this Torah was priceless and could never be replaced. My office and the NYPD never gave up on this case, and several months later, we arrested one of the suspects and were able to recover the Torah.”
Colon was arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Karen Gopee on grand jury charges, including grand larceny in the second degree, burglary in the third degree, and grand larceny in the fourth degree. If convicted, he faces a potential maximum sentence of 7½ to 15 years in prison. Justice Gopee ordered Colon to return to court on September 19.
According to the charges, the incident occurred on May 7, 2024, at approximately 2:30 a.m. Video surveillance footage shows Colon and another man, who remains at large, arriving at the school in a Ford Taurus. The two suspects used a hand truck to remove the safe from the school office, loaded it into their vehicle, and left the area. The theft was discovered by a school administrator several hours later, prompting a police investigation.
After months of investigation, the NYPD arrested Colon in August and located the safe in a wooded area near the Van Wyck Expressway in Kew Gardens Hills. Although the Torah scroll had sustained water damage, it was recovered and returned to the family who had originally donated it to the school.
The investigation is ongoing, and authorities are asking anyone with information about the second suspect to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.
The investigation was conducted by Detective James Essig, Jr. of the NYPD’s Queens Major Case Squad Division.
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