DA Katz commented, “The defendant and an accomplice are alleged to have broken into a religious facility and committed a grave act of disrespect by taking a sacred Torah scroll. This Torah was invaluable to the yeshiva and cannot be replaced. Our office worked diligently on this case in conjunction with the NYPD. After several months, we were able to arrest a suspect and recover the Torah. The investigation is ongoing and we ask anyone with information about the other suspect to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.”

Colon, 37, of Parsons Boulevard in Flushing, appeared before Queens Supreme Court Judge Karen Gopee and was indicted by the grand jury on charges of second-degree grand larceny, third-degree burglary and fourth-degree grand larceny.

If convicted, Colon could face a prison sentence of between 7.5 and 15 years. Judge Gopee has scheduled his next court date for September 19.

The charge is:

On May 7, at approximately 2:30 a.m., Colon and an unidentified man were captured on surveillance footage arriving in a Ford Taurus at Siach Yitzchok, a yeshiva at 1045 Beach 9th Street in Far Rockaway. The suspects transported a locked safe from the school’s office to their vehicle using a handcart and then left the scene. Several hours later, a school administrator noticed the safe missing and reported it to police. After a thorough investigation, the NYPD arrested Colon in August and found the safe in a wooded area near the Van Wyck Expressway in Kew Gardens Hills. The Torah, though water damaged, was returned to the family who had donated it to the school.