The heartless crook accused of stealing a gold-plated rose from a 9/11 memorial at a Midtown Catholic church was arrested Friday for the unholy crime, according to the NYPD.
Deikel Alcantara, 21, was turned over to police by his father and charged with grand larceny for allegedly pilfering a $3,000 rose — forged of metal from Ground Zero and plated in gold — from a shrine inside the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on Wednesday, police and sources said.
The memorial at the West 31st Street house of worship honors all the lives lost in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, particularly Rev. Mychal Judge, who was the pastor at St. Francis of Assisi and an FDNY Chaplain.
“This was not only a robbery, as far as I’m concerned, it’s an act of desecration,” current Rev. Brian Jordan told The Post Wednesday.
The fate of the gold-plated rose remains unknown as it has yet to be returned to the church, despite Alcanatara’s arrest, police sources said.
Before Alcanatara was busted, the reverend said that the alleged thief is known to people around the parish.
“We’ve seen him a number of times – he’s like a lone ranger, lone wolf,” the pastor said. “Had he asked for help, I would help him… He just shied away from any type of contact.”
Jordan also said he didn’t want the thief to “wallow in the jail cell.”
