You might think that stealing supplies meant for the victims of a natural disaster represents a low point, but a pair of miscreants stooped even lower, robbing a church that was a collection point for goods donated to aid victims of Hurricane Sandy. Yesterday, the long arm of the law finally caught up with them.
The New York Post reports that police had been staking out the Christian Pentecostal Church on Staten Island, following the axiom that bad guys always return to the scene of the crime. Sure enough, on Friday undercover officers noticed a couple of shady-looking characters opening a gate at the rear of the building and driving a U-Haul truck inside.
The two, 46-year-old Edwin Rios and 43-year-old William Banks were nabbed in the act of boosting 35 cases of bottled water.
The church’s pastor, Rev. John Rocco Carlo, who is a retired NYPD captain, is quoted as saying, “I think it is not only a crime against people, but a crime against God. Because God sent this stuff here, and you stole. And there’s a consequence for this.”
Carlo said the church had been burglarized some half dozen times since the super-storm swept across the hard-hit borough last October, leaving a wide swath of damage in its wake. Among the items stolen were rakes, shovels, cleaning supplies, and toiletries.
Carlo noted the thieves had been brazen, telling reporters that they had come by for a score on Thanksgiving.
FOX News adds that Rios and Banks were charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, petty larceny, and criminal trespass.
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