Man Indicted for Allegedly Burglarizing $97K From Matzah Bakery

By Hamodia Staff

BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn man has been indicted on charges including grand larceny and burglary for allegedly breaking into a matzah bakery and stealing $97,000 in cash and checks from a safe, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.

Surveillance footage allegedly shows Montaqui Durant, 43, breaking into the office of the Satmar (Rav Zalman Leib) matzah bakery at 423 Broadway in Williamsburg, at 9:48 a.m. on Feb. 28, and later leaving the location.

The contents of the bakery’s safe — approximately $63,000 in cash and $34,000 in checks — was discovered to be missing.

Durant was arrested on March 15. He was indicted last week, and, based on his prior crimes and history of not returning to court, a judge ordered him held without bail. His long rap sheet consists mainly of burglaries and related charges, a source told Hamodia.

Durant was charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, burglary, petit larceny and criminal trespass.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez visited the bakery Tuesday and said, “Stopping those who burglarize Brooklyn businesses is an important priority for my office, and we take a hard line against serial thieves. This defendant allegedly broke into a matzah factory just weeks before Pesach, which made this crime even more upsetting. We will now seek to bring him to justice and prevent him from victimizing anyone else.”