A man who shouted racist, antisemitic slur at mispalelim at the Ohel Yaacob shul in Deal last weekend is now facing bias crime charges, after Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey added them to his rap sheet.
“Members of the Deal Police Department responded to the Ohel Yaacob Congregation at the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Ocean Avenue North at approximately 1 p.m. on Friday, July 15 on a report of an unknown person recording himself with a cell phone while making obscene gestures and screaming profanity-laced ethnic and homophobic slurs and threats at synagogue congregants,” Deal Police said in a statement following the incident.
“The hate-filled rhetoric heard last Friday in what is typically a peaceful neighborhood with a tight-knit Jewish community wasn’t just abhorrent and disturbing – it was criminal,” Linskey said. “The charges being announced today should send a clear message that we take such conduct with the utmost seriousness. There is no place for hate in Monmouth County – especially when it is the motive behind a crime.”