St. Mel’s church robbed

Police arrested one suspect, who they believe stole nearly $20,000 from St. Mel's Roman Catholic Church in Flushing while Christmas Day Mass was in progress.
Authorities arrested 26-year-old Daniel Morales of Brooklyn on Tuesday night, December 26, and the district attorney charged him with third-degree burglary and third-degree grand larceny. At press time, they had not recovered any of the stolen checks or cash and were still searching for another suspect believed to be involved in the incident.
A large metal lockbox which, according to St. Mel's Parish Priest, Reverend Christopher Turczany, contained all the collections from four previous Christmas Eve and day masses, was stolen out of a locked walk-in safe as church workers were distracted.
According to Turczany, who was conducting a special mass in Italian at the time of the robbery, a group of people caused a ruckus downstairs drawing the attention of two St. Mel's workers, Chris Urena, 20, and Nicholas Mangino, 18. The two left the sacristy, where the safe was contained, and went down stairs to the basement to investigate the noise.
The robbery allegedly took place while Urena and Mangino were downstairs, and although many of the donations were checks that could not be cashed or accessed, a sizeable portion of the donations were cash, according to Turczany.
An eyewitness saw two men carrying the locked box into a white Lincoln Navigator and drove off. The parishioner took down the license plate and turned it over to police, which helped lead to Morales' arrest.
&#8220There are a lot of facts that remain unclear,” Turczany said on Tuesday afternoon before the arrest.
In addition to the regular collection, the stolen cash box also contained a special offering - parishioners at all four masses donated for the Brooklyn Catholic Charities - for needy children.
The church's annual insurance premium, covering fire, theft and liability is due this week. Turczany, who has been at the parish for three-and-a-half years, was hoping to use the larger than normal Christmas collection to pay this premium as well as the usual costs of running the parish.
It appears that the church's insurance may cover the robbery so they expect to recover some of the stolen money.
As far as next year's premium, Turczany has reached out to parishioners for help. &#8220Parishioners have pledged support, so we can count on them,” he said.
Flushing Savings Bank pledged $5,000 to St. Mel's on Wednesday afternoon.
Urena and Mangino, the two young men who were working in the sacristy at the time and went to the basement to check out the noise, are well-respected in the parish.
Turczany said this is a quiet neighborhood, and incidents like this usually do not occur at the parish.
&#8220I just want to thank people for their prayers and support for St. Mel's parish. I'm thankful no one got hurt,' he said.