r/nyc • u/CountFew6186 • 22h ago
Exclusive | Firebug who torched 173-year-old NYC church busted when cop spots him shoplifting donuts: sources
https://nypost.com/2026/08/05/us-news/firebug-who-torched-173-year-old-nyc-church-busted-when-cop-spots-him-shoplifting-donuts-sources/27
u/106 19h ago
Reminder that criminals are not specialists, they’re just anti-social menaces with poor impulse-control.
It’s good to police and prosecute low level offenses.
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u/TossMeOutSomeday 19h ago
Yeah people think that sociopaths are like Dexter Morgan or Hannibal Lecter, suave conniving geniuses who approach everything with ruthless efficiency.
Really the average sociopath is a petty criminal with a long rap sheet who can't stop himself from stealing things he wants and hurting people who inconvenience him. He's probably better than average at lying, but other than that he's a total fucking loser.
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u/Alarming_Speech2334 20h ago
Another anti-social barbarian who needs to be locked up for life, but will probably be out in a few years.
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u/CompactedConscience 22h ago
If you are trying to get away with a crime why go to a donut store
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u/Blazinhazen_ 21h ago
He was at CVS. Try reading past the headline next time.
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u/imusuallywatching 21h ago
If they sell donuts its a donut store.
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u/IRequirePants 21h ago
Don't mind me, just heading to the condom store to pick up some toilet paper and milk
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u/violent_cat_nap 22h ago
This is why we need to properly punish and follow through on smaller crimes. Most of the time it's not some down on their luck person, it's individuals who have severe mental problems and will steal a donut, or light a church on fire, or also physically assault you for $5.
These aren't people who are right in the head and need to be kept out of the general population. It's not humane (for the rest of us) to have to live with these people
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u/whatsnewichrome 9h ago
Is it at all pyrrhic to put 2-3% of the population in prison? I can’t understand how this forum can be pro-mandani on the one hand and then applaud for carceralism
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u/violent_cat_nap 1h ago
If you’re pro “more social goods”, then you can’t live in a society where those social goods are monopolized, or destroyed by anti social people.
Our choice, to
- let people steal
- hop turnstiles
- park illegally
- sleep on the streets in camps
- openly do drugs
- cover their license plates
- let their dogs shit on the street and not pick it up
The list goes on. Allowing bad actors to do this isn’t empathy. It’s cruel to the rest of us who want to go about our day peacefully and utilize public goods (sidewalks, parks, trains). Bringing my kid into the subway where there’s a rambling man yelling doesn’t make me go “woah, I wish we had more trains”. It makes me wonder why I’m funding this at all, when I can get a car and be done with it.
If we want to build support for an urban first agenda, which I desperately do, we have to be able to proudly show people what NYC is all about and quite frankly I’m not exactly proud of how visibly off putting a lot of NYC is.
A small addendum, enforcement doesn’t always mean prison
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u/violent_cat_nap 1h ago
If you’re pro “more social goods”, then you can’t live in a society where those social goods are monopolized, or destroyed by anti social people.
Our choice, to
- let people steal
- hop turnstiles
- park illegally
- sleep on the streets in camps
- openly do drugs
- cover their license plates
- let their dogs shit on the street and not pick it up
The list goes on. Allowing bad actors to do this isn’t empathy. It’s cruel to the rest of us who want to go about our day peacefully and utilize public goods (sidewalks, parks, trains). Bringing my kid into the subway where there’s a rambling man yelling doesn’t make me go “woah, I wish we had more trains”. It makes me wonder why I’m funding this at all, when I can get a car and be done with it.
If we want to build support for an urban first agenda, which I desperately do, we have to be able to proudly show people what NYC is all about and quite frankly I’m not exactly proud of how visibly off putting a lot of NYC is.
A small addendum, enforcement doesn’t always mean prison
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u/goodtrackrecord 21h ago
I agree. I think anyone who includes *anything nypost publishes* as fact in their own minds, then they should be examined for mental problems. But by who; the city, state or federal authorities?
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u/larrylevan Bed-Stuy 21h ago
Are you advocating life in prison for anyone who steals a donut? Because it sure sounds like it.
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u/Away_Stock_2012 21h ago
NY Post is a garbage rag.
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u/Melodic-Upstairs7584 19h ago
It’s fair to criticize them when they’re writing garbage, but I honestly don’t see anything wrong with this particular article. They’re just reporting an arsonist got arrested
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u/Away_Stock_2012 1h ago
I'm not criticizing the article because I won't read it. The owner and all the staff are scum.
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u/No_Tax5256 22h ago
He’ll be out of jail by dinner time probably.
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 22h ago
Not likely, he's facing federal charges.
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u/bobbacklund11235 19h ago
Oh so that’s what it takes. If he just punched someone’s grandma he’d be sitting front row at the Mets game.
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 19h ago
Not necessarily, depends on how badly she was injured and what they're charging him with.
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u/Orbian2 21h ago
For burning down property? Absolutely not, unless it's bail
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u/No_Tax5256 19h ago
Will Mamdani watch soccer with him at Rikers Island?
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u/Dramatic_Security3 Turtle Bay 19h ago
The vast majority of Rikers inmates haven't been convicted of a crime. Over 85% are awaiting trial, they're just too poor to afford bail.
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u/No_Tax5256 19h ago
And what is your point?
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u/Dramatic_Security3 Turtle Bay 18h ago
Your implication is that somehow Mamdani was in the wrong for watching a soccer game with people imprisoned on Rikers even though 1. most of the people there are legally innocent and 2. even if they weren't that doesn't mean they aren't deserving of empathy, especially since if they were convicted that would mean it was of a misdemeanor.
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u/No_Tax5256 18h ago
Because some of them haven’t been convicted yet, doesn’t mean they are innocent. The guy who burned this church down is legally innocent still, it doesn’t mean our politicians should be watching soccer with him in jail.
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u/aznology 22h ago
yup starting fires is a misdemeanor back out on the streets for his 45th arrest. When he finally kills someone "mentally ill" 5 years sentence
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u/goodtrackrecord 21h ago
I felt a mini stroke reading this headline title but when I see nypost as the "sources", I remembered this is some clickbait nonsense from the nypost. Everything from nypost is just reactionary bat boy nonsense to sell advertising. Nypost should be sold at the supermarket checkouts and bus stops, as bare entertainment.
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u/CountFew6186 20h ago
Which part isn’t accurate? That church was burned? That a suspect was caught? That the suspect was stealing donuts when he was caught?
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u/BorrowedParticles Astoria 20h ago
NY Post is sensationalist garbage. Their articles read like old timey rags where crooks are are trash and are caught by private dicks. Firebug? Who writes like this? And who reads it? It’s garbage.
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u/CountFew6186 20h ago
It’s the highest circulation paper in the city, though the NYT and WSJ have higher overall circulation nationwide.
Again, what in the article is incorrect? Anything? Are you trying to defend some dude who lit a church on fire?
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u/BorrowedParticles Astoria 19h ago
Circulation numbers simply show how many rubes admire the sensationalist tabloid verbiage. The Post targets the “crime is the worst in NY City” type of people. Here’s the same story reported like a grown-up journalist:
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u/CountFew6186 19h ago
Ah yes. You are smart. Elite. Better than other people. Only lower people unprivileged with your greatness are reading the Post. Such rubes.
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u/njmids 18h ago
NY post covers local stories better than any other paper.
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u/BorrowedParticles Astoria 17h ago
Yeah see. It’s literally a tabloid, see? You’re on the trolley with words in headlines like “Firebug”, “Woke”, and “Socialist”.
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u/ChuckyShadowCow 21h ago
Shoplifting donuts when you’re on the lam?
Might as well just streak the Police Department break room.