A serial burglar who racked up 17 previous arrests stole dough out of a Brooklyn synagogue and then used the subway tracks for his unsuccessful escape route, police said Wednesday.
Career criminal Arthur Jack, 55, crept into Congregation Shaarei Zion of Bobov and snatched $285 from a locked donation box around 4:45 a.m. Wednesday near 15th Avenue and 48th Street in Borough Park, according to cops.
Jack then fled but was tailed for more than half a mile by eagle-eyed witnesses who were inside the synagogue at the time of the crime, the NYPD said.
Serial burglar Arthur Jack attempted to steal money out of a donation box at Congregation Shaarei Zion of Bobov in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Google Maps
The career criminal jumped on elevated train tracks on the 50th Street D line in a desperate attempt for freedom — but cops eventually caught up to the unholy thief at the station.
He was charged with burglary, criminal trespassing and criminal possession of stolen property — racking up his 18th arrest, according to officials.
It’s not his first time stealing from Big Apple temples.
In 2012, the crook broke into a Flatbush synagogue and ran off with a bottle of vodka and scotch, authorities said.
He was also busted that same year for a slew of burglaries in Brooklyn, cops said.
Congregants seen gathering outside the Brooklyn synagogue on Sept. 28, 2020. Dan Herrick
Jack spent 10 years behind bars at Fishkill Correctional Institution in Dutchess County on burglary raps and was released in 2023, prison records show.
He was awaiting arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court Wednesday night.