On May 7, RNSP Shomrim received a call about a burglary that had occurred in Siach Yitzchak early that morning, in which a safe containing a sefer Torah was stolen. The RNSP immediately dispatched units to the scene who retrieved video footage of the burglary and began canvassing the area, looking for the perpetrators, the car that was used in the theft, and any other evidence that could help with the case.

Throughout that day and the following night, Shomrim members canvassed every street in the Rockaways, trying to locate the vehicle wanted in connection with the burglary. The biggest priority at that point was to try to retrieve the safe and the Torah before the perpetrators would realize what was inside and possibly discard it.

Finally, at midnight, a vehicle was spotted that matched the vehicle seen in the video of the burglary. After many hours of gathering video footage, the RNSP units were able to find the license plate that was on the burglar’s vehicle, which matched the front plate of this vehicle that was just found. That entire night, Shomrim members surveilled the vehicle from a distance. Early the next morning, the vehicle left its location and went to Brooklyn, where the driver parked and went to work. RNSP units kept eyes on the vehicle, while sharing all their information with the NYPD’s Major Case Squad detectives. The detectives came to Brooklyn, as well, and watched the car along with the RNSP units.

After a few hours, right when the RNSP thought they were onto something, the owner of the vehicle that they were watching called 911 to report that one of the license plates had been stolen from his car. The perpetrators of the burglary, who drove a black Ford Taurus, stole the license plate off this person’s black Ford Taurus and put it on to their car prior to committing the burglary, successfully throwing off their trail. With all the time and effort that had already gone into finding this car, it was a crushing blow to all of the involved parties – but they knew they needed to forge ahead.

Over the next few days, the RNSP worked with the NYPD’s Major Case Squad to gather surveillance footage from dozens of locations to track the car’s movements after the burglary was committed. The Major Case Squad ordinarily takes on cases that involve losses at or in excess of $100,000, and this particular loss was valued at slightly less than that. However, after Shomrim leadership had extensive discussions with them to explain the missing Torah scroll’s sentimental value to the community, they decided to take on the case. This proved to be a pivotal move.

After days of gathering and reviewing security camera footage, the investigating parties finally found the location where the burglars had switched back to their original license plate. That enabled Shomrim to use their new LPR (license plate reader) camera system, which they have been installing throughout the Rockaways and Five Towns over the last few months. This system sends notifications when it detects specific license plates connected to auto thefts or other crimes.

In this particular case, the LPR system enabled the police to identify the wanted vehicle as being registered to a particular address. Detectives were then able to identify a suspect, but because his face was covered by a mask in the burglary video, there wasn’t much more they could do. The District Attorney’s office would not prosecute a case without being able to clearly identify someone by his or her face, which is one of the driving factors of Nassau County’s new public mask ban.

In the meantime, there was a tremendous amount of ongoing investigative work trying to figure out who might know anything about the crime and/or the perpetrators. The RNSP put out a flyer advertising a $7,500 reward and traveled near and far to follow leads that came up throughout the investigation. Many different tactics were tried. The RNSP and other Shomrim organizations watched for the vehicle’s license plate to hit an LPR somewhere in the city, but nothing popped up, and there were no new clues about the perpetrator’s movements or whereabouts.

Then, in mid-July, this wanted vehicle hit an LPR for the first time since the burglary. The RNSP, in constant contact with the NYPD’s Major Case Squad, discussed the different options for how to proceed. Even though there was a risk involved, the police decided that the best chance was to put out an APB (all points bulletin) – an alarm that would make the plate come up as stolen if it ever drove past another LPR. Sure enough, on the morning of Friday, August 2, the vehicle hit an LPR mounted on an NYPD Highway Patrol vehicle. The officer pulled over the vehicle and alerted the Major Case Squad detectives. The detectives immediately took the driver, who was also the main suspect in the sefer Torah case, into custody. After more than three hours of interrogation, the suspect admitted to the whole theft and gave the approximate location where he and his accomplice had dumped the safe – a heavily wooded area in Queens.

After thoroughly searching the location specified by the perpetrator, multiple discarded safes were found. Among them was the safe with the sefer Torah still inside. The safe had been damaged by the perpetrators’ attempts to pry it open.

Apparently, they did manage to open the safe at some point and were highly disappointed to realize that there was no cash or other recognizable valuables inside. Confused, they opened the sefer Torah and viewed approximately ten parshiyos before deciding to shove it back into the safe. Deciding it had no value to them, they discarded the safe with the Torah inside.

Because the safe doors had been slightly damaged, some rainwater got inside and damaged roughly ten parshiyos that were written on the exposed, loose parchment. Fortunately, the loose parchment helped keep the rest of the Sefer Torah away from the sitting water, which protected the rest of the Torah from being fully destroyed.

It was not a very wet summer until that point, so the damage was limited. Interestingly, the week after the sefer Torah was recovered, it poured every single day for a week straight. If the Torah had not been found when it was, the Torah would likely have been completely submerged in water and lost forever.

Aware of the holiness of the sefer Torah, the NYPD’s Crime Scene Unit worked delicately and with great reverence. They took it to a safe location where they gathered the evidence they needed and completed their investigation. The Torah was then transferred to the RNSP, who then brought it to Rabbi Akiva Oppen of Oppen Scrolls to see what could be done to save the Torah. The ten ruined parshiyos had to be removed and are in the process of being rewritten, while the rest of the Torah remains intact.

On Thursday, August 8, members of the RNSP, Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato, Councilwoman Selvena Brooks Powers, NYPD Deputy Chief Richie Taylor, the owner of the sefer Torah, and Rabbi Akiva Oppen joined together to express thanks and appreciation to the detectives of the Major Case Squad who had led the investigation. Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato awarded citations in honor of this important arrest and the Torah’s recovery. Rabbi Oppen explained to the guests in great detail about the importance of a Torah scroll, how the letters are written, the time it takes to write each column, and other relevant topics. The detectives were fascinated and asked many questions. Representatives of the Far Rockaway and Five Towns Jewish community explained how incredibly meaningful and important this case was to them and expressed their profound appreciation for the efforts of the detectives and RNSP.

The RNSP and the entire community are truly thankful for everyone’s involvement and incredible efforts. They eagerly await the opportunity to invite the detective squad back to the Far Rockaway/Five Towns community to dance with the Torah upon its complete restoration.