By Patrick Donachie
A man has been charged with hate crimes for allegedly burglarizing several houses of worship in Flushing, Woodside and Elmhurst due to his hatred of religion and God, the Queens district attorney said.
Churches and temples were targeted.
“The defendant is accused of acting on his hatred of god to brazenly but ecumenically target various houses of worship in Queens County to break into in order to steal cash and other items,” Brown said. “The defendant now faces serious prison time if convicted.”
Joseph Woznik, 23, allegedly committed the burglaries between March 21 and April 10. He is accused of breaking into the Bangladesh Hindu Mandir Temple in Flushing, Blessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians in Woodside, St. Mary’s Roman Orthodox Church in Elmhurst, and St. James Episcopal Church in Flushing, which Brown said had been burglarized three times.
According to Brown, Woznik said in sum and substance at the time of his arrest that he was “mad at God,” that he did not like church or religion and purposefully targeted houses of worship, breaking in “to get back at God.”
Woznik was charged with burglary and grand larceny as hate crimes, as well as forgery and criminal possession of a forged instrument, among other charges, the DA said.
The first burglary took place at the Flushing temple, when an employee arrived March 21 to find that three donation boxes had been forced open. Fingerprints recovered at the scene were later matched to Woznik, according to Brown.
The first St. James burglary was discovered on the morning of March 24, with subsequent burglaries occurring April 3 and April 10. On April 10, a board member at St. Mary’s found that a gold-plated drawer used for communion and the church’s corporate seal embosser were missing.
That same day, an employee at Blessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians found a window had been broken on the church’s office door. She found a donation box opened with pry marks on it and a hammer on the floor next to the open box. Police analyzed security footage which allegedly shows a man they say was Woznik insider the church on the night before, wielding a hammer to use on the donation box.
Woznik is also wanted for burglary by authorities in Orange County, Fla. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the charges in New York, according to the DA’s office.
Reach reporter Patrick Donachie by e-mail at pdona
