lynch church theft

Surveillance cameras captured Tony M. Lynch enter the Holy Cross Church on Jan. 7 before a car was stolen from the parking lot.

(Provided Photo)

DeWitt, N.Y. -- Surveillance footage showed the man accused of stealing a car at a DeWitt church blessed himself with holy water before the theft.

"He must be a good Catholic," said the Rev. J. Robert Yeazel, who saw the footage from the Holy Cross Church on East Genesee Street.

Cameras revealed that after Tony M. Lynch, 56, of Syracuse took car keys from a coatroom on Jan. 7, he dipped his hands in holy water and made the sign of the cross, said Pastor Yeazel.

Tony M. Lynch

Yeazel and DeWitt police gave the following account:

Lynch used a fob on the key ring to find the car in the parking lot. He drove to St. James Church on South Salina Street in Syracuse, where he was also caught on camera.

Lynch was caught this week by police at a church in the town of Onondaga, said Dewitt Police Chief Eugene J. Conway.

The third-degree grand larceny with which Lynch is charged was the latest in a spate of burglaries that have taken place at Holy Cross and other churches around the area. Two custodians at Holy Cross had their coats stolen, said Yeazel. A woman's keys were also taken from the church and used to steal a purse from her car.

Police have not connected Lynch with the other thefts, but Conway said that he admitted to intending to steal from other area churches. Lynch told police that he had planned to take money from a cash box at Holy Cross on Jan. 7. He discovered the car keys when that plan was unsuccessful.

The stolen car belongs to William J. Walsh of Rochester, who was attending Mass before going to work between 7 and 8 in the morning on Jan. 7. Walsh discovered his car had been stolen after Mass, when he went to leave for Syracuse University, where he works as a professor in the Whitman School of Management.

"I was stranded," Walsh said. Yeazel gave him a lift to work, but he missed conference calls with students in China. The car was returned to him in about 24 hours.

Lynch also stole a ski jacket from the trunk of Walsh's car. The jacket has been recovered, but Walsh, who had already replaced it, instructed police to donate it.

The Holy Cross community has been praying and discussing safety over the last few weeks, said Yeazel.

"It makes everybody on edge, of course, because you don't know when it's going to happen again," he said. "But I think everybody around here is at least a little relieved that we at least have located one person."