Cops nab thief who swiped gold-plated rose from Manhattan church’s 9/11 memorial

Cops person arrested the antheral they accidental swiped a $3,000 gold-plated roseate from a 9/11 memorial astatine a Midtown church.

Members of the NYPD’s Manhattan Warrant Squad grabbed Deikel Alcantara, 21, for Wednesday’s theft astatine the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on W. 31st St. adjacent Seventh Ave., down the artifact from Penn Station, cops said.

Alcantara was taken into custody successful Midtown astatine astir 8 p.m. Friday and charged with expansive larceny. Alcantara’s begetter helped constabulary way the thorny thief down, constabulary sources said.

His arraignment successful Manhattan Criminal Court was pending Saturday. The roseate helium stole from the religion wasn’t instantly recovered.

Alcantara was apprehended hours aft constabulary released his mugshot and asked the public’s assistance locating him.

He was caught connected surveillance cameras swiping the roseate from the religion astir 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, cops said.

The metallic angiosperm served arsenic the centerpiece of a 9/11 memorial honoring those who died successful the violent attack, with the roseate rising from pieces of twisted alloy taken from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.

The church’s erstwhile longtime pastor, the Rev. Mychal Judge, was a Fire Department chaplain who was crushed by falling rubble astatine Ground Zero portion praying for victims and rescuers aft the attack.

Rev. Brian Jordan, the church’s pastor, said staffers knew Alcantara, who had asked him to permission the religion connected respective occasions, including doubly connected the time of the theft.

He hopes Alcantara receives “the psychiatric attraction helium needs,” Rev. Jordan told the Daily News Thursday.

“It wasn’t welded in,” Jordan said of the aureate rose. “It was inserted in. You tin easy interruption it free. [A] woman yelled astatine him, but helium took disconnected anyway. He was carrying it similar it was a container of groceries.”

The pastor called it “an enactment of desecration.”

Alcantara was arrested successful Manhattan connected Oct. 27 connected charges that included petty larceny, transgression possession of stolen property, and unauthorized usage of a centrifugal vehicle.

The Manhattan DA’s bureau asked for bail, but a justice released him with nary bail, tribunal records show.

On Nov. 9 helium was arrested again for an battle helium committed successful Manhattan connected Oct. 24. He was released connected Nov. 15, 5 days earlier the roseate theft, aft paying a $3,000 bail, officials said.