Knife-wielding Scrooge tries to rob aged Catholic deacon at church door days earlier than Christmas: ‘I would like the cash’

He was the Grinch who tried to steal Christmas. 

A down-and-out parishioner at a Queens church tried to rob a Catholic deacon at knifepoint earlier than Sunday service — then sat down for mass till cops confirmed as much as slap on the cuffs.

Deacon Adalberto Montero mentioned he calmly talked down the knife-wielding nut — recognized by cops as Miguel Bonano, 64 — after he knocked on the door of St. Gertrude and St. Mary Star of the Sea in Far Rockaway simply as mass was about to happen at round 9:30 a.m. Dec. 21. 

“He stood there trying at me. Swiftly, he pulled the knife out of his pocket and mentioned, ‘Give me the cash,’” Montero recalled Tuesday.

“I informed him quietly and calmly, ‘Put the knife away. You’re gonna harm your self, you’re gonna harm me. Put it away,” Montero informed The Submit. “He didn’t go away so I closed the door on him, figuring he’d go away. I opened the door once more and he was nonetheless there. I mentioned, ‘Hear, you gotta go away.’

“He walks again and sits down.”

Montero mentioned he was shocked by the encounter. 

Bonano is an everyday at Sunday service, sometimes sitting quietly within the fifth row, second seat in — which is the place he planted himself after the botched theft try, the deacon mentioned.

Bonano – who lives in a homeless shelter a couple of half-mile from the church – was nonetheless round the home of worship on Seashore thirty eighth Avenue close to Seashore Channel Drive when cops arrived, police mentioned.

“I took out a knife and I attempted to rob the man,” he allegedly admitted to cops after being taken into custody, in response to a felony grievance.

The blade was recovered from his jacket pocket, the submitting mentioned.

Bonano was charged with tried theft and felony possession of a weapon, Queens prosecutors mentioned. 

He was ordered held on $10,000 money bail or $20,000 bond throughout his arraignment earlier than Choose Lana Schlesinger in Queens Legal Courtroom.

Bonano has 21 prior arrests courting again almost 4 many years – however hasn’t landed in cuffs since 2002 when he was nabbed for drug possession, police mentioned. 

His first arrest dates again to 1987, when he allegedly tampered with a subway turnstile and was discovered with 5 tokens, 4 glass pipes and one other particular person’s financial institution card, cops mentioned. 

He has additionally been arrested for theft, trespass, grand larceny and possession of burglar’s instruments, police mentioned. 

He is because of seem in court docket subsequent on Friday on the brand new costs. 

“I hope he doesn’t come again,” Montero mentioned. “What am I going to say? I can’t inform him, ‘No, don’t come again. I wouldn’t flip anybody away, however I might control him.”