The sign welcoming worshipers outside St. Helen's talks about seeing Christ in one another, clearly some are only looking for money and valuables at the church. Forum Newsgroup photo by Patricia Adams.
The parishioners and clergy at St. Helen’s in Howard Beach has been shocked in the past by thieves who entered the church to steal money and other valuables. But never has the church community been more shocked to learn that one of the thieves arrested last week in connection with two separate robberies at the church over the holidays, was the same man who stole a chalice valued at more than $10,000 belonging to former parish priest Fr. Rob Keighron back in March 2010.
Police arrested Theodore Kurplewski, then 20-years-old, in connection with the theft after his father Thomas returned the chalice to the church claiming he had seen someone trying to sell it outside a nearby housing project in East New York.
At the time, police and parish officials were suspicious about the father’s story and later got a confession from the younger Kurplewski.
Msgr. Alfred Lo Pinto, the pastor of the parish says the best way to describe the situation is “very sad.”
“This is a family who has been part of the parish for many years,” Lo Pinto said. “They knew very well that if they needed help, all they had to do was ask for it.”
Now, a little more than two and a half years later, Theodore Kurplewski, now 22, has been arrested again. This time by detectives from the 106th precinct along with his 19-year-old brother after the pair was identified as having stolen money and other valuables from the sacristy at St. Helen’s Church in Howard Beach on two separate occasions on the weekend before Christmas and then again on the weekend before the New Year holiday.
The brazen thieves broke into the church but they had no idea they were being video taped by church cameras.
Fr. Keighron with the stolen chalice.
After making their way into the church, they entered the holy sacristy, an area behind the altar where priests vestments and other sacred items used in the celebration of mass are stored.
The brothers made their way into the church in broad daylight through the door of the church and had the audacity to sit and mingle with the unsuspecting parishioners as they sat and prayed.
Once behind closed doors, they broke the lock on a cabinet in the sacristy that contained money from the collection boxes and that which had been collected from votive candle donations.
In total, Msgr. Lo Pinto places the cash loss from the two incidents at somewhere around $1,000. And it was Lo Pinto who engaged in some amateur sleuthing of his own, calling in a security professional from Global Technology who helped the priest establish a time slot and then traced the video footage back to establish the identity of the thieves.
Now Kurplewski and his brother will face
charges for the robberies after the case is processed by the DA’s office who could not be reached for comment before press time.
St. Helen’s has been victimized for three years in a row by robbers, starting with the theft of the chalice in 2010.
Last year, thieves broke into the school and stole more than $20,000 worth the equipment including laptop computers and smart boards.
Assemblyman Phillip Goldfeder sent a letter to DOT Commissioner Maura McCarthy urging her to take action and install adequate street lighting around the school and church grounds following the rash of robberies.
It should be noted that when Kurplewski was arrested in 2010 for the chalice theft, the judge offered him a choice, a rehab program or incarceration–Theodore Kurplewski chose jail.
By Patricia Adams
