Police search for thief who stole 9/11 memorial gold rose from New York Catholic church

Police are searching for a thief who entered the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on West 31st Street in Manhattan on Nov. 20, 2024, and stole a gold rose that memorializes a priest who perished in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. | Credit: Courtesy of NYPD

Police are searching for a thief who entered a Manhattan Catholic church this week and stole a gold rose that memorializes a priest who perished in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Police said in a release that on Wednesday afternoon an individual entered the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on West 31st Street and “removed a gold-plated metal rose from the 9/11 memorial inside without permission or authority to do so.”

The suspect on Friday was identified as 21-year-old Deikel Alcantara. The incident was being treated as an act of grand larceny. In New York State, grand larceny involves the theft of property worth at least $1,000.

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