Police from the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows are looking for a burglar who allegedly broke into a Kew Gardens Hills synagogue in broad daylight last month and slaked his thirst for liquor.
At around 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7, the suspect broke into Yeshiva Hashevaynu, a Shul located in a one-family home at 144-49 72nd Dr., at around 3 p.m. by manipulating a lock on a basement door with a wire coat hanger, police said on Thursday. Once inside, the culprit found two bottles of booze and used a plastic cup to drink up, but not before he was captured on a security camera toasting whoever viewed the images.
No injuries were reported during the break-in, and the perpetrator fled the scene on foot in an unknown direction.
The NYPD released surveillance photos of the suspect on Thursday and described him as having dark hair, a thin beard, and a mustache. He wore a black overcoat with a red, black, and white scarf around his neck and a black yarmulke.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest.
Anyone with information regarding this burglary investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are confidential.
Through Jan. 19, the 107th Precinct has reported 20 burglaries so far in 3025, four more than the 16 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 25%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
