Stealing from the poor box I

Poor box robbery not a first : Newsday (Dec. 29, 2005)

The arraignment yesterday of a Northport man for stealing from a church's poor box is the second of its kind on the Island in as many months.

Donald Steck, 45, was charged with two counts of petit larceny in First District Court in Islip for allegedly stealing money - on Christmas Day - from St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in East Northport.

Last month, a retired NYPD sergeant videotaped a robber trying to get cash from a Malverne church donation box.

Sean Dolan, director of communications for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, said even though the diocese encourages procedures and security measures, such as locks and cameras, to prevent poor box thefts, robberies in churches are difficult to stop.

"You could have the most sophisticated lock in the world," Dolan said. "If a person wants to get into the box and has access, it doesn't matter."

Steck is due back in court on Wednesday. His bail was set at $10,000.

Officers from Suffolk's Second Precinct arrested Steck Tuesday after church officials captured him twice on camera last week stealing from one of their four poor boxes in the rear of the church. Don Ferrer, St. Anthony's business manager, said officials set up a surveillance camera after one of its members noticed one of the poor boxes open and empty on Dec. 20.

"We wanted to find out who was doing it," said Ferrer, "because obviously you shouldn't be robbing a church."

Ferrer said Steck was not a member of the church.

"We might have seen him around once in a while," he said, "but he was not a parishioner."

Yesterday, it was unclear how much money Steck allegedly took before he was caught. At the time of Steck's arrest - he returned to the church Tuesday - police said he was carrying more than $20, though it was uncertain if any of that had been stolen.