Brooklyn man sentenced to prison for robbing matzo factory ahead of Passover
Hard matzo may have come about as a result of a rabbinic push to bake matzo before Passover, and over concerns about the insides of soft matzo being ocassionally undercooked and, therefore, chametz. Photo by iStock/motimeiri
(New York Jewish Week) — A Brooklyn man was sentenced to prison for robbing a Williamsburg matzo factory as it prepared for Passover.
Muntaquim Durant, 44, stole cash and checks worth over $94,000 from the Satmar Matzah Bakery on Broadway, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.
The Kings County Criminal Court sentenced Durant, a resident of the neighborhood of Prospect Heights in the borough, to two and a half to five years in prison for the crime.
Durant broke into the bakery on February 28, five weeks before the start of Passover. The bakery was gearing up to make matzos for the holiday at the time of the robbery, Gonzalez said in a statement.
Surveillance footage showed Durant entering the building at around 9:50 a.m and searching through jackets on a coat rack. He then went upstairs, poured himself a coffee, and forced his way into a locked office. He left the room seconds later with what appeared to be a wad of cash and checks stuffed into his pockets, the district attorney’s office said.
An employee, who later found checks strewn around the floor of the office, saw that cash and checks were missing. The stolen cash amounted to $60,000 and the checks totaled $34,000.
A detective on the case used the surveillance footage to create a wanted poster, and other investigators identified Durant, who was wanted in connection with other burglaries. Durant was arrested by the NYPD during a routine traffic stop on March 15.
He was charged with grand larceny, illegal entry, criminal possession of stolen property and other charges. There were no hate crimes charges.
“This defendant brazenly broke into a religious institution that was gearing up to make matzos before the start of a Jewish holiday. He was caught red handed and will now be held responsible,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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